Dahlia
by manicureval
Summary: Chloe Finnigan (OC) starts her fifth year at Hogwarts. For her whole life, she thought that love was stupid, that it was just an infatuation or lust. Her divorced parents were a perfect example of what she thought love was, misery and heartbreak. Little did she know that she was falling head over heels for Albus Severus Potter... With a little mix of ScoRose ;)
1. Chapter 1: Hogwarts Letter

**Author's Note: If you want to get to the chloe/albus ship, go to chapter 3, it's when she finally gets to Hogwarts. Please review and fav or follow, can I have at least one review? Motivation can make me do so much better.**

I was cuddled up on the couch with my younger brother Jake, watching a random movie we came across on HBO. It was a classic horror movie that Jake was forbidden to watch, but he begged and badgered me for an hour until I gave in. If Mum found out, she would probably start lecturing him about it being inappropriate for his age; that horror movies would leave him with nightmares, possibly even scar him for life. I would also be lectured for being an uncaring and inconsiderate big sister.

When suddenly, there was a knock on the front door.

I groaned, not wanting to get up from the couch.

"Go and see who's waiting for you outside, Chloe!" Mum called out loud and clearly from the kitchen, as she was preparing a tomato ham sandwich for lunch.

"How do you know that whoever that is outside is waiting for me?" I questioned, as doubt infused my words.

"Oh I dont know, maybe it's because Kylie and Tina comes over everyday!" Mum replied sarcastically, as she sliced the ham on the chopping board. She cursed in pain as she clumsily cut her index finger with the knife. She sucked on her finger; trying to prevent the blood from spewing out. She shot me a glare, obviously thinking that it was all my fault that she injured herself because she was preparing the sandwiches for me and Jake.

My mother is so clumsy and irresponsible to the point where our family is practically a mess. Last year, she forgot to mail my tuition bill and I was denied attendance at my school. I was utterly dumbfounded at that moment, wondering why mum didn't confess about her forgetfulness earlier. When I got home that day, she started asking me about how school was and when I told her what happened. She widened her eyes in shock, remembering signing the school fee but not mailing it over the summer holidays. She even started blaming me for not reminding her to mail it when I thought she could handle it.

Then there was this time where she forgot to extinguish the fire that was heating a pot of soup, luckily we came back before our house lit on fire. She then started blaming me again for not preventing the incident from happening by examining every room in the house before leaving. I wish she took responsibility for the mistakes she made and that she was more reasonable. I sometimes can't help but wonder how our family would've been if our father didn't leave us, maybe he would've opposed of mum's blaming and defended us instead. Or maybe he would totally agree with mum and make every punishment ten times worse. Either way, I'm still curious.

Now that you know that my dad left our family, you might be wondering why. He left us when I was only four years old and when Jake was barely one. According to mum, he was an extensive womanizer, he began having an affair with another woman and couldn't care less about staying in contact with his own kids. Judging by why he left us, he seemed like an amateur, so I guess even with him back in our lives, our family will still struggle to run normally. But I still wish for a father, Kylie always babbles on an on about her dad does nice things for her and occasionally, she rants about her father being protective of her and how annoyed she is. But I wish somebody cared about me, I wish that somebody was as protective of me. I wish that someone accompanied mum to complete the responsibilities of a parent, that way she wouldn't be as stressed and she would spend more time with us. Being a single parent is tough and challenging, especially taking care of two kids, and I'm perfectly aware that she's trying, but I just wish that she paid more attention to us. But I have to understand that life is unfair, and that 'life isn't a wish granting factory'.

For now, we don't have major financial problems, because she found a decent job and none of us were extravagant money spenders. But with her work and us to take care of, she struggles to actually spare time for us. She arrives home at midnight and leaves right after we go to school. So on work days, the only chance I get to see her is in the morning.

The only thing he left us was a posh and fancy looking house to live in. Which I would've gladly preferred his actual company instead. Which also teaches people not to be gold digging, fantasizing that someone so selfish and conceited would bother taking care of the kids you gave birth to together. And certainly, I hate being dependent so marrying some rich douchebag and not having to work for a living disgusts me.

"Not on Sundays." I answered.

"For heaven's sake just do me a favor, can't you see that I'm making lunch for us to eat?" She shot back, chopping a tomato into slices and messily putting it between two pieces of toast.

"Alright alright." I rolled my eyes in annoyance as I strode towards the front door, I peeked through the window seeing an old lady dressed in a long black dress robe wearing a pair of glasses with these glass pieces that gave her eyes a magnified effect. She stood in between the rose bush surrounding our house. She lightly patted the petals of a bright fuchsia lily in our front porch, admiring the beauties of nature.

I grabbed the doorknob and flung the door open. As her attention turned to me. "You must be Chloe Finnigan." She greeted me in a monotone voice as she handed me two letters.

I stood there perplexed not knowing what to say. Who was she? And how did she know my name? And where did she get the last name Finnigan from? "Um.." I clutched the letters tightly with my sweaty palms.

"This must've been a mistake, are you not Chloe Finnigan?" She questioned, looking confused and troubled.

"I'm Chloe Parrish." I answered. "And that's my mum over there cooking." I pointed at mum as she placed the sandwich she was preparing earlier on to a plate which was sitting on the black marble kitchen table, rinsing her hands in the sink in a thorough manner and storming over giving me a look of frustration.

"What is all the fuss about?" She crossed her arms.

"Ms. Parrish, I would like to speak to you privately." The old lady said as mum seized the letters.

"And who are you?" Mum raised a brow, giving a slight sceptical look.

"I'm Minerva McGonagall. Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She gave a sheepish look, like she slipped out too much information.

"I'm sorry what? Did you just say witchcraft?!" I frowned at her. What I didn't know was that my life was going to start spinning in circles in a matter of ten minutes.

"I would like to speak to you in private Ms. Parrish." She repeated, slightly impatient. Mum walked out to our front yard and shut the door behind her.

I tried to eavesdrop on their conversation but all I heard were a couple of shrieks and yelps and gasps. Ten minutes later, mum had a more understanding look on her face. "Well Chloe, hope you and Jake have fun at Hogwarts."

"Wait what? What's Hogwarts?" I asked, still extremely bewildered at my mother's sudden approval to something entirely new to her. Or perhaps she was keeping something from me.

"I suppose you will know in the future." McGonagall gave us all a curt nod, then she disappeared into thin air. I blinked rapidly in shock, my mouth hanging open.

Mum looked slightly guilty. "It's this thing called apparatation I think, which you would learn at school later."

"What?" I asked, thinking that I hallucinated. 'Learn at school later?' What did she mean, I thought, utterly dumbfounded.

"It's a form of teleportation. Apparently in the Wizarding World, there are multiple ways to travel around. There is floo-ing through the fireplace, flying with a broomstick and something called a portkey or a vanishing cabinet."She answered. "Look I know this sounds crazy and rushed but..." She continued. "I was told that you and Jake were both welcome to join Hogwarts."

"What and you're just gonna trust a random weirdly dressed old lady that casually stumbled upon our house?" I retorted, not really in a mood for my mum's nonsense.

"You'll be boarding the train from King's Cross Station on the 1st of September along with Jake. You'll be attending fifth year, and he will be attending first." She ignored my response. I can't believe how serious she was, this didn't sound like mum at all, she sounded like she was reciting a speech from paper.

"Hold on, I'm going to this boarding school in such short notice? What about my friends here?" I complained, getting a bit nervous and paranoid.

"I'm positive that you'll make new friends there Chloe." She reassured, but I didn't feel relieved at all.

"But why am I shipped off so suddenly to a mysterious school that I've never even heard of? This just doesn't make any sense." I gave her a stern look. "What are you hiding from me?"

"Look, I have something important to tell you." Her voice was still, yet there was a bit of worry and remorse clamming inside of her. "Your dad didn't exactly leave us." Her voice was barely audible.

"What are you talking about mum? You always told me that he dumped us for another girl..." My brows knitted together in confusion and in anxiety.

She stuttered. "I said that to protect you..." I just stared at her flabbergasted, how can she lie to me like that? What could she've meant? Does this mean that my father wasn't the douchebag I assumed he was? "I know this might me hard to believe, but your dad was a wizard. And both you and Jake, well, you two inherited his magic. This explains why random house objects always goes out of control whenever you get mad. And you'll have to learn how to control it."

I was speechless for a second or two. But I chose to ignore all of the sense she was actually making from what she've told me. Whenever something or someone irritated me, I've always felt a sense of power on objects near me. Like an authority of being able to control my surroundings. And they always tend to move around for some reason whenever I was extremely annoyed or angry.

"But this doesn't explain why he left us." I chose to change the topic, not wanting to admit defeat.

"He left us because I.. because... it's all my fault I'm sorry Chloe." Her eyes started watering. "I called him a monster, I told him to never come near you or Jake ever again and to get lost. I wish I haven't, I regret it so much and I feel so guilty about it. I think about it every night, what we could've been if he didn't leave us." I could see pure grief swirling in her chocolate brown eyes. I might've agreed to go just for the sake of learning how to control my powers and because I sympathized with my mother but she completely ruined it by saying "I threatened to put a restraining order on him. Though he didn't seem to know what that is." She chuckled lightly.

"How can you just laugh it off like that mum? This is serious! All my life, you've been feeding me with lies, and you choose to blame my father when all of this is clearly your fault! " I suddenly felt a rush of anger exploding through my veins as I slammed the table, a few of its contents falling to the furry rug we were both standing on. "Our father left us and its all your fault! You practically excluded him from my life when it wasn't even your choice to make! You even lied to us, how pathetic can you get? If it weren't for you being whiny and unforgiving, I would've went to this wizard school earlier and it wouldn't've been so much easier for me!" Hot flaming anger started rushing through my veins, as I felt this unleashed rage erupting out of me. It felt wonderful expressing my anger like that, I felt so much more relieved. Although I did feel slightly guilty about blaming everything on my mother.

There were loud thuds and bangs as a few pots and pans came clashing onto the ground. Jake backed away panicking as a pot fell right next to his foot.

"Chloe, calm down. It was just a joke! What are you all mad about?" Her tone suddenly turned a lot deeper and more serious.

"You think it's okay to joke right now?!" I raised my voice, feeling adrenaline rushing through my veins, as I felt my spine tingle and my chest contract. Causing Jake to scurry over frantically trying to stop us from arguing. "Yeah so tell me about it, how many secrets have you kept from us?" My temper started becoming uncontrollable, as the room started trembling as a whole, a family portrait of us playing in a waterpark shattering into pieces.

A few glass cups that were placed neatly and accordingly inside a cabinet started juggling back and forth shaking slightly. Luckily, mum closed the cabinet shut so none of the contents came splattering to the floor.

"What exactly is happening right now?" Jake interrupted, trying to keep mum and I as far away as possible before things started getting physical.

"Our mum is a liar Jake, get away from her!" I accused, pointing at my mom with an exasperated look on my face.

"Liar? How dare you speak to your mother with such an attitude! I'm not lying to you! You're the one who is being unreasonable, Chloe! Sit down and I will discuss this with you after you calm down!" She exclaimed, infuriated, like she was one step closer to slapping me right in the face. But under all that rage, I still felt the sorrow and despair crammed up inside her.

"Just when I got use to everything and I started settling down you just had to ruin that for me did you!" I lashed out on mum completely.

"It's for the best Chloe! You're still young and naive, you still don't know anything." She replied.

"Young and naive? Since when were you so wise and responsible? For my whole life, you've been disorganized and our family is a complete mess! At least I have my future planned out unlike some kids at school who are most likely going to end up unemployed and jobless!"

"I've been trying so hard to support this family and you don't even care about the effort I'm putting into this! I care about your future, that's what makes it important for you to go to Hogwarts."

"Well if you really cared about me, you would let me pursue the career I want! And this nonsense about magic won't lead me anywhere more than a career path of an unsuccessful magician wandering around the streets performing weird magic tricks and earning less than a dollar everyday." My anger blasted out in a frenzy, the room vibrating slighty as mum shot me a look of worry.

"It's not that simple Chloe, you need to learn how to control your magic before anything severe happens!" Mum still looked fumed, but her expression was clouded with worry more than anger.

"What do you mean severe? I haven't caused any problems so far, why can't you trust me?" I respond with a venomous glare, standing there crossing my arms like a grumpy toddler.

"You'll understand when you get older." She simply said.

"We're switching schools?" Jake interrupted, trying to pull us away from each other.

"I'm glad that at least one of you are excited about this." Mom replied, gratefully looking at Jake.

Well that was because Jake didn't have any proper friends, he was inhibited. His coyness always took the best of him. I find it hard to believe, but around kids at his school, he literally acts like he got duck tapped in the mouth, he turns hesitant and recoils nervously around other kids. I personally thought that he was just lonely and was in need of somebody's support. And deep down, he's actually a really thoughtful, smart and also a really devious person, but the only people he reveals his true nature currently was to me and mum. Partially also because he was diagnosed with a mental disorder, he is really reserved around average people and he rarely opens up to anyone.

"What is it like there, mum?" He asked, dancing and jumping around in euphoria.

"I'm not sure, but I hope you two will have a great time there." She gave him a vague smile. "And I'll have to bring you guys spell book and wand shopping before boarding the train." She reminded.

"Well I won't be going, so Jake, do me a favor and have a good time." I muttered.

"Be reasonable Chloe." She fretted, as I rolled my eyes at her. "Please Chloe, do it for you father." I saw regret and fear in her eyes. But I wasn't going to fall for it. All of this was just an act! Her feelings were never sincere. She could be irresponsible and unreasonable one minute, then she acted like she genuinely cared about us one minute later!

"How does this have anything to do with my father? And also, I don't have a father." I spat.

"Yes you do. And he wouldn't want to see you like this." She said, defiantly. As I responded by scowling at her and dashed up the stairs, heading up to my room and banging the door loudly behind me; hearing a sigh coming from my mother.

I buried my face in my pillow, clutching it tightly as a drop of tear came rolling down my face. Traveling down the bridge of my nose and landing on my pout. I licked my lips, as I tasted a surge of saltiness in my mouth.

I can't believe her! All those years, keeping something so important from me, I was fed with a lie over another. If I knew, my life would've been different, and I can't help but wonder how it would've been like if my mother took my father's confession lightly and he stayed with us instead. All of this just makes me more curious of my father's current whereabouts. Did he have another family? Could he've passed away already?

I heard a knock on the door. "Go away!" I shouted, rolling around my bed in anxiety, pillow still wrapped around my arms.

There was a silence as I dug my face deeper into the sheets. All I saw was utter darkness as I drifted off to dreamland unconsciously.

My mind felt fuzzy as I blinked tiredly, wondering how long I've been sleeping and what time it currently was. My stomach grumbled as I smelt a really familiar scent of fish and chips wafting through the house. Since I skipped lunch, cereal was practically the only thing I ate today.

I forced myself up with a eager shove with both of my hands as I groggily stared at the clock, it was precisely 8:09. Meaning I took a five hour long nap. I darted out of bed, desperate to have a nip off of some crispy fish fillet. I ran down the stairs, forgetting the row I had with my mother previously.

Mum was relaxing on couch, chewing on her classic peas and carrots maintaining her vegetarian diet at all cause, while Jake was munching on a whole lot of fish and chips.

"Are we having fish and chips? I asked full of bliss and glee in my voice.

She stared at me as she crinkled her forehead in confusion, widening her eyes which I saw a tint of pink and puffiness in.

That was when it hit me hard, I remembered every detail of the huge quarrel we had. I mentally slapped myself and headed back to my room.

I jumped right back into bed and sighed. Covering my eyes with my palm and gently massaging my eye balls in a circulating movement. It was a weird habit I performed whenever I felt hopeless or thought stupid of myself.

I laid in bed, wrapped up in my fluffy and thick blanket. Even though it was the middle of my summer vacation, I still felt comfortable and cosy whenever I was cuddled inside of it.

As I heard strange hooting sounds coming from somewhere in my room, I peered around my room startled, not expecting to see a shadowy figure sitting on my window sill looking like it was patiently waiting for someone.

Slowly, I tiptoed over to the window sill, feeling agitated, imagining a ghost suddenly creeping behind me. I heard another hoot as I practically jumped up in fear not use to having another presence in my room. I pulled the curtains over, my finger tips trembling in intimidation.

I sighed in relief as I figured out that the shadow belonged to an owl, turning out that it wasn't the strongly evocative and frightening haunting ghost I was expecting. Though I do have a slight dread of nocturnal creatures or anything night related as they reminded me of the haunted house I was deliberately pushed in to by one of my friends around five years ago. It scared the living hell out of me and I'm definitely not going into any more haunted houses for the next few decades of my life.

It's beaks were clamped onto a rolled up parchment that was tied with a magenta ribbon. I carefully gripped onto the edges of the rolled up parchment, attempting to pull it away from the owl. The owl opened its mouth as the parchment fell to the ground. I bent over and picked it up, removing the ribbon and flattening the curled and crumpled parchment with my palms. The owl stared at me creepily with deep intensity in it's eyes. It seemed like it was still waiting for something.

I quickly straightened the letter, and started reading it. It said:

Dear Chloe,

I'm sure that you're really new to the idea of owling letters but later on, it'll be the only way you can contact people that are not in Hogwarts. I'm overjoyed to know that you're really coming to Hogwarts. I swear to you, it's a wonderful place and no doubt you would love it here! The school contacted me about the enrollment of your brother so I had a little chat with your mother. She told me about your sudden outbursts of magic so I suggested that you come here to learn how to control your magic.

Usually, students start from first year but the ministry seemed to have full confidence in your magical potential, and thus didn't think it would've been necessary to put you into Hogwarts when you were a First year. Though I managed to convince Professor McGonagall to let you come along with Jake because your magic can be extremely dangerous if you don't learn how to control it.

I can't wait to meet you and your brother!

Sincerely, your father

Seamus Finnigan

Basically, my biological father sent me a letter through an owl, which is still slightly unbelievable and strange to me. And then he started babbling about how awesome Hogwarts was. At first I thought it was another one of mum's little traps to get me into Hogwarts. But right now, all I think about is my father and the fact that I have this weird urge of excitement to meet him.

I was in some sort of a quandary. Maybe going to Hogwarts wouldn't be that bad after all, but what about my life here?

I mean I did over exaggerate a little back there with my mum, but it was just too much for me to take at one moment. I was overly wretched and unable to contain my emotions. And I actually do worry about my magic going a little bit overboard sometimes. But it was also unbelievably renegade of my mother to not trust us with important information like that.

The owl was still sitting on my window sill waiting for me, staring at me with those big round yellow eyes of its.

It took me a good five minutes to realize that it was waiting for a reply. I quickly scribbled down a few sentences on how excited I was to finally be able to meet my father but that I had slight doubts and worries about attending Hogwarts. Then I rolled the parchment back up and returned it to where it use to be.

The owl flapped it's wings and departed into the starry night. As it flew farther and farther away from me, I saw it's shadow camouflaging into the darkness of the night. As I gazed into the gloomy night, I saw an uncountable amount of stars floating in the sky, shining brightly like diamonds.

I spotted the greatest and most luminous star, illuminating and flashing behind an isolated foggy grey cloud that merely covered a tiny bit of the infinite sky.

"What should I do?" I chanted in a whisper-like manner, closing my eyes and clasping my palms together in concentration.

"Well I guess that's your choice to make, not mine." I might've heard the star advise me on what to do. Or maybe it was just my imagination.

I was interrupted by the ferocious grumbling of my stomach, indicating how voracious I actually was. I searched through my backpack and my drawers but I didn't find anything edible.

I guess the only option I really had was to join Jake and mum for supper. I grunted, cursing myself for eating the last few granola bars that were lying around in my room. The last thing I wanted to do right now, was to shamefully apologize and to confess directly that I actually wouldn't mind going to Hogwarts.

That was when I heard tiny footsteps approaching my door.

"I left you some fish and chips and some hot cocoa" Jake called, knocking on my door.

"Thanks Jake, you're a life saver!" I grinned widely, snatching the plate and the cup from Jake. I ravenously chomped down mouthfuls of fish and chip while swallowing huge gulps of hot cocoa at once. I burped loudly.

"Woah slow down sis." He laughed.

"Imuah hungwee orrkai." I replied, munching on my food.

"What?"

"I shwed aam hungwee." I glared at him playfully as he cracked up laughing.

"You know you should talk to mum." He suggested out of the blue. Why did he have to bring that up, I thought. "I just think you should talk to her, she's been crying ever since." He repeated, looking slightly anxious.

I felt culpability swelling in my gut, like I got punched right in the stomach. I was still sort of debating mentally whether or not I should just apologize and nod my head in a hypnotized manner like an obedient little girl or to rebel against the entire idea and start shouting at her again. But I guess she was right about me having to control my magic, though I was still completely infuriated by the fact that she lied to me about my father. I mean he isn't exactly an iconic figure in my life but he was rather important to me, the fact that I've been thinking badly of him for my entire life just because I trusted my mother with what she had to say about him just drives me insane.

I stared blankly at him. "Fine."

I paced down the stairs, skipping a few steps just for the fun of it. Jake followed behind me, cautiously looking at his footsteps as he was the more perceptive one of our pair. As I was about to trip and practically topple over the staircase, he tightly grasped my hand. and placed it onto the handle bar surrounding the staircase. "Be careful!" He alerted me, giving me a concerned look.

He was also always more of the problem solver or my helping hand and I was extraordinarily grateful yet I felt slightly bad, since I was the big sister, I should be the one assisting him. But I was rarely the sister everyone wanted, I seemed to have taken over mum's clumsiness.

I gave him a thankful look and tapped mum on the shoulder, she was currently washing the dishes. She rinsed off the remaining soap on her gloves and slipped them off, shaking it dry and hanging it next to the microwave. She turned over to face me. "Yes?" She crossed her arms.

"Look, I owe you an apology for yelling at you like that, and I guess I was being a little bit unreasonable. But why did you have to lie to me about dad?" I inquired, actually curious on what she had to say about it.

"I know you'll never understand but I did it thinking I can protect you by hiding the truth from you. I'm very sorry Chloe. I thought that if you never knew, you can live on happily without worrying about it..." She replied, wholeheartedly, as I saw misery clouding her eyes. "Will you forgive me? She asked me, since I didn't give her a response.

I nodded. "I'm sorry too mum."

She pulled me closer to her, hugging me as I felt a welcoming warmth coming from her. I can feel the gentle pounding of her heart against my chest as I felt the bonding of our souls.

Jake stood in the corner of the room, a proud and triumphant smile on his face. Always the problem solver.


	2. Chapter 2: Diagon Alley

After mum and I forgave each other, we decided to go school shopping in this place called Diagon Alley.

"Oh, and I forgot to give you this!" Mum said, taking an envelope out of her pocket. It was the Hogwarts invitation letter that McGonagall had given us, already ripped open."You should have it, Jake has his already." I accepted it and took out the folded parchment in the envelope. It said:

Dear Miss Finnigan,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall, headmistress

All of a sudden, a puff of smoke appeared out of nowhere. The three of us froze in shock as the smoke vanished, revealing Professor McGonagall. She was standing between our open kitchen door and our dining table.

"Good Morning," she greeted us, her lips twitching slightly into a smile. We were still staring at her in shock.

"Wha- wha- what was that? Is that the apparate thing you were talking about, Mum?" I stuttered.

"You're correct Chloe, now hold my hand." she raised her hand towards me, willing me to take it.

"Where are we going?" Jake asked curiously.

"Hold tight," She instructed. She then looked at Jake and answered his question. "To get the necessary supplies you will need for you schooling." Jake looked up at McGonagall suspiciously, but did as he was told. At first, I was pretty reluctant and incredulous about trusting McGonagall; since I barely knew her. But honestly, I didn't really care even if she was a scheming kidnapper in disguise, I will just punch her in the face and run away.

As the four of us clenched on to each other's hands firmly, we felt a swooshing sensation; like we were pulled hastily through a tiny tube.

In a matter of seconds, we landed on the rock-hard pavement of Charing Cross Road. I felt queasy, almost like I was about to vomit. As well as that, I was having trouble seeing clearly. My vision was blurry. Even Jake was looking pretty green, like the Wicked Witch of the West without the scaly skin and pointy nose. For one second, I thought that getting us lightheaded was the first step to her so called strategy at kidnapping us, but I imagined teleporting; you get swirled around or you fly a long distance in the process, wasn't it normal for me to feel a little bit queasy?

"But I don't understand, where's Diagon Alley?" Mum asked, stumbling around dizzily as if she was about to fall over.

McGonagall guided us through the door of a dingy looking shop that seemed to have closed down. We carefully walked inside, glancing around in curiosity, stunned by how old and dirty looking it was.

"So where is all the magic?" I raised my brow in disbelief, looking around the room. Was this whole thing a fraud? Was she trying to lure us into an isolated room so she can kill us torturously without our screams being heard by anyone even if we yelled for help?

McGonagall trudged over towards a small, almost unnoticeable corner in the room, which led to a dead end. Was she really trying to kill us? I didn't even know who she was, did I kill her mother in my past life or something? I mean, she did seem like she was more than a hundred years old. My imagination grew deeper and more vivid, getting carried away and thinking pessimistically of worst care scenarios. I just snapped out of it and decided to think that my mum wouldn't purposely bring us here to get us killed, but then again, my mum can be the most irresponsible and foolishly trusting person in the world.

McGonagall swept her hands over the brick wall in an anti-clockwise motion, as the bricks individually moved apart, unveiling an entrance to a pub called the Leaky Cauldron. I stared in awe, I guessed the 'McGonagall might be secretly a kidnapper that was skilled at fooling people with magic tricks' was clearly not even possible anymore.

We all went through the entrance. It closed brick by brick behind us, and soon enough, we were heading out of the Leaky Cauldron. Standing the middle of the cobbled Diagon Alley.

I gaped in amazement. There were shops selling robes, entertaining objects, a variety of diverse animals like owls or kittens, tottering piles of spell books, quills and parchment, potion bottles and cauldrons.

I wasn't so thrilled with this whole thing at first, but now, I was completely intrigued by it, even if the whole concept of wands, spells, potions and all was still surreal in my eyes. The shop that caught my eye the most was called 'Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes'. It looked funky yet welcoming, displaying fireworks in the entrance that I was completely mesmerized by.

"First, we need to exchange Muggle for wizarding currency, galleons. " McGonagall instructed, as she led us into a bank.

The bank reminded me of a small mansion, with 'Gringotts Bank' inscribed above the entrance. Once we entered the bank, I saw white rounded lanterns hung symmetrically on each side of the main room. There was also a large crystal chandelier shaped like an hourglass hanging from the ceiling.

We were surrounded by short figures with hooked noses and elf-like pointy ears; in fact, the entire building was full of them.

"Are they elves?" I muttered under my breath, hushed, as I hoped that none of them would hear me and be offended.

"They're goblins. Elves are different creatures all together, and they work for wealthy pureblood families. We have many that are in charge of cooking meals at Hogwarts," McGonagall answered.

"How may I help you?" The goblin that authorized the entries into the vaults asked.

"We need to make a currency exchange." McGonagall said to the goblin, as Mum handed a few hundred pounds over to him. He gave us roughly one hundred galleons.

We exited the bank. "You will need wands to begin with?" McGonagall suggested. We just nodded and allowed McGonagall to do all the handling for us.

She brought us into a shop called 'Ollivander's Wands'. The shop looked about as disorganized as if it had been swiped by a tornado not too long ago. Wand boxes were stacked messily above one another.

"Buying your very first wand? How exciting!" A hunched figure with long wavy white hair down to his shoulders tapped the bottom of his chin, scanning the stacks of wand boxes around the shop.

He carefully climbed onto a ladder and picked a navy blue wand box with gold edging. He pulled it out from under a stack of wand boxes; for a second, I thought it would come collapsing down on us row by row like a domino. But he seemed to be not bothered by it at all, like he was completely used to this.

He took the wand out of the box and examined it before handing it over to Jake, who swooshed it around in ecstasy. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

Ollivander gave the wand a disapproving look as he picked up another box from the counter.

"Dragon heartstring, eleven inches, ebony..." He held the wand right next to his ear. "Stiff." He passed it over to Jake, who started waving it around. It was like the room lightened up magically, as Jake seemed to be engrossed by the wand.

"Perfect!" Ollivander smiled, delighted. "That would be seven galleons." Mum clumsily counted her galleons, giving him exactly seven. "Now go." He shooed us out of the shop, since he had a few customers waiting in line.

"Hold on, I need a wand too." I said.

"Ah yes, I don't remember selling you a wand, and I remember every wand I've ever sold." He replied, sounding mystified.

He climbed back onto the ladder and picked a wand box that was sitting right in the middle of the shelf. He climbed back down again cautiously and asked me to try it.

A spark shot out of the wand, hitting a lamp, which smashed into pieces.

Ollivander shook his head in disapproval, as he came back with more wand boxes in his hands. I tried all of them but either nothing happened or I made some kind of damage to his store."Why won't any of the wands work on you?" He grunted in annoyance, the look on his face despondent and confused.

I stared at him cluelessly for a minute; he finally responded by gasping loudly, like a light bulb went off in his head. He went behind the shelves, coming back with a bronze wand box in his hands. He carefully removed the wand from its box and passed it over to me.

From the moment I touched the wand, I felt something magical, similar to the feeling of finally discovering treasure after hours and hours of searching. The moment you slide your hands through the glowing gold and the dazzling jewels, the distraction and pride you receive from accomplishment.

"Dragon heartstring, just like your brother's, ten inches, willow, unyielding." He surveyed the wand in concentration. "This would be eight galleons." He added as mum gave him the money.

Ollivander accepted the money, returning the wand back into its box and giving it to me.

"Well, goodbye then." He waved at us and started chattering with other customers as soon as we left.

Next, as we passed by this shop called 'Broomsticks'. Jake's eyes started gleaming in bemusement.

"Can I have a broomstick?" Jake begged my mum, pleadingly tugging her arm and swinging it around.

"Sorry to disappoint you Jake, but first years are not permitted broomsticks until second year." McGonagall replied.

"So can I have one?" I asked. I've always thought broomstick flying extremely surreal so I wanted to attempt it.

"Yes you can, but you won't be having flying lessons with the first years, you'll need someone else to teach you first. So I suggest you learn how to ride on one before investing in one. And also, you'll be sorted into your house with the first years," she informed me.

"What exactly is a house?"

"There are four different houses. You'll be sorted into one, having classes and activities with the other members of your house depending on the subject."

"I forgot to ask earlier, but what are the subjects?"

"I teach Transfiguration, which involves the transformation of both objects and animals. In Potions, you will learn both the practical and theoretical work, and work to brew various potions. In Charms, you will learn to manipulate objects. To learn both standard and advanced defense, you will study Defense Against The Dark Arts. Herbology is the subject where you will study magical plants, and History of Magic is self explanatory. From your third year onwards, you are able to take optional subjects, such as Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Care Of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies and Divination. You'll be taking extra lessons to rise to the appropriate standard, since you will be taking your OWLs at the end of the year. We've never had a student that join our program after first year so I will be assisting you as much as I can, as my duty as Headmistress. And about controlling your magic, which made me consider asking you to enroll in this program in the first place, it won't be a problem once you focus your magic on your wand. Therefore, it won't be a matter that has to be addressed onwards from now."

"I don't want to sound offensive in any way, but can't I just buy a wand and go back to my old school? I mean this place is great, and after coming here I've started to think so much better of magic... but I'm just curious." My attempt at being polite failed miserably as I realized that by saying 'so much better' implied that I thought badly of this place before. I mentally banged my fist against my face repeatedly.

My mother chuckled lightly as McGonagall just stared at me, stunned. My insides started getting wobbly. Oh no, was I going to get kicked out of school just when I had gotten used to everything and was actually starting to like the whole idea?

"You silly girl, of course not. You have to learn how to use your magic too." McGonagall's eyes twinkled in delight, as if she had never heard such an odd statement come out of a witch's (am I considered a witch?) mouth before.

I sighed in relief, glad that she either ignored what slipped out of my mouth or naively didn't notice, which I doubt, but oh well... "Well I guess I have a lot to catch up on... I mean isn't that seven subjects excluding the optional ones which I probably won't be able to take...?" I changed the topic.

"You'll be fine Chloe." She reassured.

I gave her a weak smile, thinking that no matter how hard I tried, I would probably not make it as a doctor or whatever they call it here in the Wizarding World. Hey, maybe I should consider being a wand maker, I thought; I mean, that would be cool.

"You can always send me a message if you want a broomstick for Christmas, Chloe. Speaking of messaging, I have to get you guys an owl in order to stay in contact with you! Where can I get an owl?" Mum questioned McGonagall.

"It is next to the broomstick shop." McGonagall stated, as she turned on her heel and escorted us back into the opposite direction, into a shop called 'Magical Menagerie'

The shop was filled with different animals like cats, toads and rats in cages but there were no sign of any bird species. A strong unwelcoming stench wafted through the shop.

"Where are the owls?" Jake asked, gazing around the shop in confusion.

"Oh I'm so sorry; I completely forgot that they don't sell owls here! We have to go all the way to 'Eeylops Owl Emporium' which is down the pavement." She ambled out of the shop as I cried out after her, "Wait, I want a cat!"

"But I thought you wanted an owl, every student can only bring one pet with them," Mum informed me.

"Jake might want an owl but I want a cat. I've always wanted one," I replied, as Jake gave me a strange look.

Ever since I was very little, I've always wished for a cat. When I was younger, Dad got me a fuzzy cat which had ash-grey fur. Mum started coughing horribly and we thought she had just caught the flu but turns out she was allergic to the cat. We unfortunately had to give it away to a neighbour and that was the last time my mum ever considered letting any cat "I never had the chance to have one because you were allergic to them." I pointed out, standing at the entrance of the shop as McGonagall, Jake and Mum were about to leave.

They didn't bother replying so I continued. "Since you won't be at Hogwarts, can't I at least have a cat?"

Mum sighed in defeat. "Fine. But you have to promise to take care of it." I punched the air in giddy victory and started skipping around the store, as Mum came back inside while Jake and McGonagall stood outside waiting for us.

I explored the store, elated, peeking through the cages to hunt down the perfect cat. While Mum rolled her eyes in annoyance, hurrying me to get over with it soon since we still had a tonne of stuff on our list to buy.

"How may I help you?" The store clerk asked. He sounded kind and generous.

"I'm searching for a cat; can you show me where they are?" I replied courteously. As he pointed towards another area of the shop. How could I have missed that? It was right where all the customers were clustered. They all had their attention on this Siamese cat that had a funny expression on his face, while none of the other cats were really paid much attention to.

There was a ginger cat purring inside its cage, I could see that he really wanted my attention. He even reached one of his paws out of the cage, so I asked the store clerk to take him out for me to touch.

I wrapped the ginger cat around my arms. He was only three months old so he was as light as a feather, the size of two of my palms put together. I stroked his fur delicately as he meowed again piteously.

"Alright, little fellow, I'll take you home." I whispered in his ears as he started purring in euphoria, puckering her lips like he was actually 'smiling'.

"What should I call you, eh?" I stared into his deep blue eyes that reminded me so much of the ocean.

It reminded me about those days where Dad use to take me to the beach when I was very young. The smell of fresh sea salt drifting in the air, the feeling of lying on top of the sinking wet sand and the waves chasing after me. The water turning into foam and creeping up to my feet, then sliding back down the shore, and then charging up against me again. The sound of the water surging and retreating. The sky packed with seagulls flying around freely. The memory was so beautiful, even after so many years...

Ever since Dad left us, Mum never brought me to the ocean. She use to tell me that I fabricated the entire story since I was only about four years old back then, even when I was absolutely explicit about the memory, she denied it, telling me that it was all part of my amazing imagination. Thinking about it now, she probably said that to keep me thinking that dad was an utter douchebag that did not give a monkey's about us.

The colour of his fur also reminded me of the sandy shore. "How about Oceana?" I suggested dreamily, still peering into his eyes as he purred in delight.

"Are you done Chloe? It smells in here." Mum muttered, scrunching her face up in disgust, tapping her foot impatiently against the floor.

"That would be nine galleons." The clerk stored the cat into an individual cage as I looked over to mum, who simply rolled her eyes and pulled out nine galleons.

"Be careful and have fun." The clerk beamed at me and gently guided my hand onto the handle of the cage; slowly lifting his hand away from it, warning me not to drop it.

I peeped into the cage as Oceana widened his eyes in happiness. "Hey, little fellow." I fiddled with his little paws as my smile broadened.

"You can do that later, Jake and Professor McGonagall are waiting for us," Mum rushed me with a threatening look as she stomped out of the shop. She seemed to really despise cats.

I followed her out of the shop, my hands still tightly grasping onto the handles of the cage.

"What took you guys so long?" Jake asked, nonchalantly.

"Your sister seemed to have had a challenging time trying to pick a cat when they are all exactly the same, demanding and conceited." She puffed.

"How are cats demanding or conceited? They're loyal and serene creatures that love it when you play with them." I argued back, completely infuriated by my mum's narrow judgement of cats.

"Um, can we just go and buy an owl?" Jake suggested, as McGonagall just stood next to him awkwardly, not wanting to get involved with our family fights.

After an exhausting brisk twenty five minute walk to 'Eeylops Owl Emporium', I started panting and holding onto the barrels around the shop for support.

"Couldn't we have just apparated?" I grumbled, breathless. The convenient life with spells and magic that can help do the dirty work for me could, unbelievably, come in handy, I thought.

"Yes, but we should all have some exercise." McGonagall said effortlessly. I grumbled, she sounded just like my Physical Education coach.

"What do people in the wizarding world do as a sport?" Jake asked curiously.

"Quidditch. It is a sport played on broomsticks in the wizarding world. A team has seven players, and one of those is the seeker. The game ends when the seeker has caught the snitch, a golden agile ball," McGonagall answered, and for the whole day, this was the first time that she ever talked so enthusiastically.

"That sounds so much like soccer..." Jake replied, amused.

Thank goodness I didn't get a broomstick or else I would've been practically forced to join the Quidditch team; when everyone knew that I loathed any kind of sport with all my heart.

The four of us all went into the shop as we were greeted by the pungent odour that was coming from the owls. Mum rumpled her face up in disgust, the same way she did when we were at 'Magical Menagerie'. "Hurry up, pick an owl and let's go," She snapped, sticking her tongue out and coughing in absolute revulsion.

"But we just got here..." Jake protested, glancing around the shop, enthralled.

"Told you Jake, mum was exaggerating the longevity of our time in Magical Menagerie just now," I gloated cheerily.

"Just pick an owl and let's go, Jake!" Mum repeated, glowering at us moodily.

Jake knew the sensible thing to do was to stop quarreling and start searching for the owl that he fancied. He heaved a sigh and scrutinized every slight detail of each owl specifically, looking at their eye colour, the layout of their feather and if they were any imperfections or minor flaws in them.

"No owl is perfect, Jake, get over it!" I remarked towards his chary behaviour.

"But if I'm keeping it for at least seven years of my life from now, wouldn't it be smarter if I chose an owl that I was fond of?" Jake inquired.

"Very meaningful Jake, now can you just pick an owl and let's go!" Mum repeated, irritated.

Jake started caressing one of the owls in the cage when suddenly he got bitten on his index finger. The dark red liquid started oozing out of the wound. He hissed in pain as he started sucking on it.

"For heaven's sake, get over it! We still need to buy your spell books, your robes and so much more school equipment!" Mum told us grumpily, as the few people in the store gaped at us.

I twitched in horror when Mum mentioned 'robes'. Were we seriously wearing thick and heavy robes for school?

"I don't get it mum, why are you mad over the tiniest things today?" Jake said, slightly nervous, like he was frightened of mum. He looked baffled as he gave short frequent glances at his finger.

"For heaven's bloody sake, stop asking questions and PICK AN OWL!" Mum yelled, her dark brown eyes glowering dangerously. Everyone had their eyes on us and there was no way of remaining inconspicuous now. I backed away from Mum, blinking rapidly. Even little Oceana started squirming.

Jake looked around the store, his eyes suddenly started gleaming as he spotted a snow white owl with a mysterious and almost spooky look. It was polar opposites with dad's owl, who was taupe in colour and gave out this friendly and warm vibe. Its feathers were almost as pure as snow, its round amber eyes glowing brightly in the depths of the cage, contrasting with the darkness of its surroundings. It's beak was barely visible but it was peeping out of its heart shaped face slightly.

"How much would this owl be?" Jake asked the owner of the shop.

Out of all the stores we've visited so far, the owner of this shop seemed to be the most carefree and apathetic. He never once asked for assistance or gave a second glance even when Jake got bitten by the owl. Even when we started arguing, he paid no attention whatsoever.

"That would be eleven galleons," He answered without even looking up from his desk. He appeared to be filling in some paperwork. Mum dug through her purse and fished out eleven galleons, growling.

As we trudged out of the store, Mum still seemed rather crabby.

"Is she always like this?" McGonagall asked with a raised eyebrow, looking disapproving.

"I guess." I shrugged.

"And Chloe is exactly like her." Jake muttered under his breath, smirking.

"What do you mean?" I exclaimed, narrowing my eyes at him. As he flashed me a plastery smile and ignored my response.

"Are you guys talking about me?" Mum snarled, suddenly turning around.

"No... not at all," Jake stammered in denial as mum narrowed her eyes at him.

Jake snorted in laughter as he gave me the same sarcastic smile he had given me when I stated that I was nothing like my mother. Turns out I was wrong, he hinted at me telling me that we looked identical whenever I narrowed my eyes, which earned him two more extra glares, one from mum and one from me.

"Stop laughing Jake." Mum ordered, still extremely snappy.

"Let's see..." Mum completely ignored our bursts of laughter by reading the list of things we still had to buy. "Wand, check, pet, check, spell books." she said to herself. "Let's go spell book shopping!" Mum suggested with fake enthusiasm, trying her very best to change the topic before she humiliated herself in front of us any more.

"Flourish and Blott's is next door." McGonagall replied. "And unfortunately Ms. Finnigan, I -"

"It's Parrish." I heard mum bark back, completely unaware of how rude she sounded. I don't know what has gotten into her but occasionally, she gets these mood swings where she acts very dramatic and unreasonable for no apparent reason. I feel quite bad for the people who had to deal with her when she was in her teenage years, her mood swings were probably even worse back then.

"Well unfortunately, Ms. Parrish, I have a meeting to attend along with the Minister of Magic; so I have to leave now. I wish Jake and Chloe all the best in their upcoming school year." She disappeared into thin air as the three of us stood there, shocked at her sudden change in plans.

We all stood there for a couple of minutes, until I interrupted the silence. "Well, let's go into Flourish & Blotts' to get our spell books!" There was still no response. "Come on! Chop chop!" I waved my hands over Mum and Jake's faces frantically. They seemed to have snapped out of their daydream as Mum flashed back to her usual moody self.

"Well let's get going then." She crossed her arms.

As we headed into the store, we heard the sound of bell chiming and smelt new paper and ink, an aroma of untold stories, mystery and discovery.

We picked up Jake's long and interminable list of spell books first, Standard Book Of Spells (Grade 1), A History Of Magic, Magical Theory, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Magical Drafts and Potions, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.

A fine layer of dust was covering the books. Jake brushed it off and held the numerous amount of heavy hardback books in his arms. For a second, I thought he was going to drop the books but his grip was steady.

"You should read through Jake's spell books before jumping to the Grade 5 books; it would make things a lot easier," Mum notified me. As I picked up the two spell books I needed this year, The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) and Defensive Magical Theory.

And indeed mum was right, I scammed through the spell books and I merely understood half of what it was saying. I was pretty doomed if you asked me.

"Some of the spell books are worth one galleon and some are worth two, the total amount combining all the spell books plus this Expelliarmus spell book would cost seventeen galleons." The store clerk told us, counting the books that we were holding.

"But the Expelliarmus book isn't on our list!" Mum was reading the list thoroughly now, trying to look for any signs of the 'Expelliarmus book', which was nowhere to be found.

"Just thought it was an interesting book," Jake shrugged, a cheeky smile forming on his face. These were times where he was suddenly so much less nervous and comfortable with talking my mum without the paranoia of her yelling at him, it bemused me.

Mum didn't really feel like arguing with Jake so she paid for the books and left the shop. The previous tirade at the pet shop must've drained out all of her energy.

Jake and I shared a quick glance raising our brows, indicating the phrase 'so should we go now?' as we followed mum out of the store.

As kids, Jake and I use to be able to communicate with each other even without speaking directly to each other. It's like we were sometimes able to read each other's minds just by the expressions and body gestures we perform. This always comes in handy when we are prohibited to speak on all terms.

Next off, we bought three sets of school robes from a shop called Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. The shop was crowded with a bunch of students and their parents coming to buy robes for themselves. There were also a few young witches buying dress robes for more formal occasions.

The fitting rooms were cramped and compact, hundreds of people waiting in line to try on their robes. Honestly, with so many customers, Malkin's should consider spending their profits on expanding the shop in general.

There was a witch with dark curly hair trying on a ruby red dressing robe with golden chains tying around its waist line. It was the only robe that I actually admired and desired to try on. She sashayed out of the fitting room asking a friend of hers about how she looked. The friend gave her a thumbs up and called her gorgeous, which in fact, she was. Her hair suited the dress so perfectly; it also brought out the hazel in her eyes. If this was the dressing robe I was asked to wear all day, I wouldn't have refused.

"There's an empty fitting room, go try on your robes." Mum tapped me on the shoulder.

I was daydreaming of wearing a glamorous sapphire blue dress just like hers, but with silver chains instead. I remembered seeing that dress hung on one of the hangers in the store as I stared at mum dreamily.

"Go!" She repeated, pushing me into the fitting room and locking it for me.

I snapped out of my daydream and took a glance at the school robes I was holding. They were dull and boring, a plain dark grey colour, made out of a thick and dry material. It had no resemblance whatsoever to the dress robe I was eying that was made out of silk and had a smooth texture to it. I was bored with it, so I started picking on the lint stuck to the robes.

"Are you done yet?" Mum asked impatiently.

So I forced it on, it was so baggy and weird looking, not flattering my slim figure at all. I got my genes from my mother; even Jake seemed to have been affected by the gene pool as he turned out looking even baggier than I was, looking like he was wearing a plastic bag.

"Is it just me or do these robes not fit me?" I gave a look of dissatisfaction as I pulled on the robes, attempting to make them look less baggy. Even my cat, Oceana, seemed to give them look of discontent.

"Look I'm sorry Chloe but this is part of the dress code, even if I didn't approve of them, you'd still have to wear them." Mum replied reasonably.

"Can't I have that dress instead?" I pointed towards the blue dress I had been ogling for more than half the time I was there.

"You want to wear a dress to school?" Mum questioned. I nodded at her. She just rolled her eyes, not taking me seriously at all.

After we paid for the robes, we bought individual objects like cauldrons for Potions class, a telescope for Astronomy, quills, brass scales, and lots more.

In the end, we were left with twenty two galleons, so we took a visit to the shop that caught my attention when we first got here, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Mum wanted to exchange them back for pounds but Jake and I begged her so she gave in.

It was a joke shop full of products to prank people; the shop was also full of surprises and shocks, boisterous and full of adventure.

There were a countless amount of fascinating products like something called the boxing telescope, which gave the person who squeezed it a black eye that couldn't be removed even with spells. Then there were these ten-second pimple vanishers that could really come in handy, my friends at home would have killed for those. And self inking, smart answer or spell checking quills that would've been so much more convenient to use instead of the regular ones I just bought.

In the end, I had to share the remaining galleons with Jake, a disadvantage of having a sibling. I bought a few of the pimple vanishers and a pair of extendable ears which could be useful for eavesdropping. I also picked up a comb-a-chameleon, and a hairbrush that magically changes your hairstyle when you comb it through your hair. It would be amusing to help someone comb their hair without them noticing that their hair turned a deep shade of magenta or blue.

Jake grabbed a few of the skiving snack-boxes, that cheeky little git. It was a product that made the consumer appear sick, to fool the teachers. Inside the box, there were fever fudges, fainting fancies, puking pastilles and nosebleed nougats. I personally wouldn't have gone that far just to skip a lesson, after all I did have lots to catch up on. He also got some of the invisibility hats and cloaks, using up all of his money, while I thought it would've been wise to keep half of the money just in case.

After we came back from Diagon Alley, everything still felt slightly phantasmagorical, like a real life fantasy. Never in a million years, would I have ever dreamt of having magic, and never had I ever felt so thankful and grateful for my own heritage. I mean, pimple vanishers? That's something you'd never find in the Muggle world.

I can't believe how easy and effortless it must be to have spells and charms to do the trick for you, I thought. I mean, I won't ever have to ride on a plane or any kind of transport again once I learn how to apparate. And also, I got my very own cat!

I might have been disapproving of the idea at first but just then, I was very exhilarated to go to Hogwarts and learn magic. Although I was leaving things behind me such as my friends and the planned out life I was suppose to have there, but what's life without taking risks and trying out another path?


	3. Chapter 3 (part1): Meet Louis Weasley

**Authors Note: this is the longest chapter i've ever written so i'm splitting it into half. i'm still working on chapter 4, which is all about the subjects she's taking, this is just the start :) there would be more in the future IF you guys review ;) **

The next few weeks flew by in a blur, I notified my friends about my mum's sudden decision of putting me in boarding school, which they were pretty dejected by. I didn't exactly specify that I was being sent off to a magical boarding school, which I doubt they would have believed anyway.

Just to make them feel happier, I left them a few of the pimple vanishers and told them that they worked wonders, clearing any blackheads or severe acne whatsoever. Hoping that it wasn't a prank product that tripled the amount of dirt on their face.

My best friend Kylie offered to send me off at King's Cross station to board the train to Hogwarts. She and Tina were also the only people I told where I was actually going to. Surprisingly, they both really understood the situation. But Tina's little brother, Tim, was hosting a birthday party on September 1st as well, so she wasn't able to send me off; though I was envious of the fact that they still had another week until school rolled around.

I nicked a few of the fever fudges and fainting fancies from my brother's skiving snack box and gave one each to my best friends.

The night before leaving, Kylie had a sleepover at my place, saying that it would be months, or possibly a year before I would see her again; therefore she was going to make the most out of it.

We stayed up all night, chattering. She seemed very accepting and cheerful about the fact that I was being sent off to a magical school, not accusing me of lying to her, doubting me, or even jealous by the fact that I wouldn't have to take mathematics or chemistry anymore. In fact, she was the one who encouraged me to have the best time I possibly can and to be optimistic about having such a rare and unusual experience in my life. I loved how she was so encouraging and optimistic about everything, she never discouraged me or advised me not to go so that I won't be leaving her. She wanted me to experience the best things in life, she wanted me to have a new opportunity, a fresh start at meeting new people, she was never controlling and she didn't wasn't the type of person that would dwell over the fact that I was moving on and might be replacing her (my best friend) with someone else, so you can guess where my loyalties lie. To somebody who always stuck up for me and wanted me to be happy.

In between talking with me, she fell asleep. I supposed she had a pretty rough and tiring day, considering the fact that we went to the mall and played around together that day. So I decided to have my rest as well, knowing that tomorrow was also going to be a long day.

On the next morning, I was awaken sharply at nine thirty, my alarm clock bleeping repeatedly, piercing my fragile eardrums. I slammed it off in annoyance.

I brushed my teeth and did my usual morning routine drowsily, then I plopped on my school robes and tucked my wand safely into one of the big, loose inside pockets of my robe. My wand stuck out of my dress robe slightly.

Kylie apparently was awake an hour before I was, so she already had breakfast. I just had a classic bowl of cereal with milk to keep my energy levels up for the day.

I completely forgot about my makeup and I would've liked to look decent and to give a good impression of myself on the first day of school. So I coated some mascara over my lashes, which gave an accentuated look to my baby blue eyes that I possibly inherited from my father since mum had brown ones. I decided to keep it light, not wanting to look overly dramatic.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror. One thing I didn't learn to love about myself was my gap tooth. My friends told me to embrace it and to accept my own flaws, but it brings down my self esteem sometimes. I use to dread about it every single day, coming home from school and weeping my eyes out. I was young, foolish and mentally weak, and I absolutely hated myself for being so self conscious and insecure. Mum told me that it appealed to her, but she was just saying that because we didn't have the money to get it fixed. And well, we weren't exactly the wealthiest most fortunate family.

The gap in my teeth has became wider, but I wasn't really concerned about it anymore. I've finally learned to embrace myself for who I was. And when I was subjected to ridicule by my classmates, I just stuck my middle finger right in their faces and told them to get their noses out of my business. Maybe the gap in my tooth made me grow mentally stronger as a person.

Realizing that it was almost ten twenty, I rushingly applied a lipbalm on my lips that gave my lips a natural glow and a peachy tint to it, then dabbed a bit of concealer on blemishes and under eye circles, and finally sweeping a light coral blush over my cheeks. I hung a rose gold necklace with an amethyst gem intwined in the middle around my neck, which was the only heirloom my father ever left me.

On the day he left us, I remembered him giving me a last hug and a peck on my forehead, he unbuckled the clasp of the necklace and tied it around my neck. The feeling of his warm fingers fidgeting around my neckline, like he was having trouble fastening the necklace onto my small, skinny neck. It use to be long and dangly, but as I aged, it started to fit me perfectly. The memory was so vivid, I hate to admit, it kind of scared me.

I shoved some of my cosmetic products into my makeup pouch and packed it into my luggage, along with my school robes, a scarf my grandmother knitted me before she passed, all of my spell books, my favorite novels, school materials and my hair charmer that gives my hair a luscious glow. I also slipped my mobile phone and a portable charger along with headphones into my pocket, though there's definitely no reception, I decided to bring it along with me just in case.

I contemplated my reflection in the mirror one last time and left my room.

I was leaving so much behind, my dozens of bottles of nail polish, my collection of books, my jars of aroma candles. "This is it!" I shrieked like a little girl as little Oceana started purr in her cage. I couldn't believe I was actually going to a school that taught magic and leaving everything behind me here. And the fact that I would have to make new friends frightens me a little. What if they all dislike me? What if I don't fit in? What if we have nothing in common and nothing to talk about? I snapped out of it, you'll be fine, I told myself reassuringly. But I always aimed for being settle and sticking with a few friends just because I was terrified of change and difference, yet just then, half of my world was going to switch around.

"Let's go now! We have to be at platform nine and three-quarters before eleven o'clock," Mum reminded us. "It's already ten twenty." She tapped on her watch.

Jake came rushing down the stairs, dragging his trunk behind him sloppily. His trunk bumped down each step making huge banging noises, owl cage in his hands.

We all gave him terrified looks, preparing for his trunk to practically flip over and roll down the stairs and for his owl whom he had named 'Kiwi' to die a tragic death from falling down the stairs. But since Jake was the insightful one in our family, he still had full control of his trunk.

We all sighed in relief as he came down safely without harming anyone and more importantly, himself. "I can't wait!" He yelped ecstatically, bouncing around, his owl extremely annoyed with his prancing and shaking its cage violently.

"Stop it Jake, or your owl will be unwilling to help you send your letters. Or even worse, lose its memory due to you shaking the living daylights out of it - and send your letters to the wrong people!" Mum exaggerated. She was brilliant at imagining worst case scenarios and being pessimistic. Couldn't she apply her imagination to something more useful? Like being optimistic, or something that could benefit our general lives?

"She has a name you know, it's Kiwi. And she's a living thing, just like us, therefore she has a gender. And in this case, she's a girl." Jake replied drolly.

"Whatever." Mum rolled her eyes and unlocked the door.

I took one last glance at my home. This was it. All these years, I came back every night to sleep on my comfy and perfectly resilient mattress and now, I was going to miss my bed a bloody lot. I would also share a dorm with five other girls my age, from the look of it; I saw the word 'drama' written all over it.

Kylie tapped me on the shoulder. "We should go now. You don't want to miss your train, do you?" She gave me a little push as I snapped back into reality.

"I'm really going to miss this place." I walked out of the house and locked the front door. Being the last person to exit the house, I had the responsibility of keeping thieves away from it. I stashed the key into the pocket where my phone and wand was, just for remembrance of the beautiful house that I had lived in for the past fifteen years of my life, still not believing that I wouldn't be coming 'home' to this place for the next year or so.

We took a bus to Kings Cross station and soon enough it was already ten fifty. We were stuck in the middle of platform nine and ten and there was no sign of platform nine and three-quarters.

We were about to question the people surrounding us when this girl seemed to spot us struggling, so she called for our attention and started charging towards this wall in between platform nine and ten. Before we could've warned her about injuring herself, she dashed through the wall and vanished out of our sight.

Kylie's jaw fell open as she stood there in shock.

To be honest, I was slightly mind blown by the fact that magical portals really did exist in real life. Though it looked nothing like the loopy and swirly hypnotizing sucking portal I was imagining. We were practically running towards a wall, going through it and magically arriving at another destination. A portal designed this way was something I would've never anticipated or predicted.

"Come on, we've got to go through the wall." Jake gestured towards the wall the girl had just gone through.

"Can I actually get pass? I mean, think about it, if any ordinary person can get through it, wouldn't that be a problem?" Kylie suddenly started worrying slightly, which was pretty odd, because she was normally the daredevil that pushed me into going on a roller coaster.

"She might be right." I said, though I really didn't want to say goodbye to Kylie yet. But mum seemed to have already gone through the magical portal.

"Well if wizards are the only ones that can get through, how did Mum do it?" Jake replied logically. It was always good to have someone around that had the brains to think before we reacted impulsively.

"Alright then." Kylie raised her hand out for me to hold onto.

"In three." I puffed. "Two." I closed my eyes as the three of us linked our hands together. "One." We dashed towards the wall. Oceana was hung on my shoulder uncomfortably as we pushed our trunk-loaded trolley.

It was a rather magical feeling, like I was lifted off the ground and floating in mid air as I felt my sense of control taken from me.

In the blink of an eye, I was standing ahead of a wall identical to the one we just went pass. Kylie and Jake were still next to me. I saw a hanging banner that had 'Platform Nine and Three-Quarters' stamped on it.

It was exactly 10:58 when we arrived at platform nine and three-quarters, the train hadn't arrived yet so I shared my last words with Kylie and Mum before boarding the train.

I spotted a tall boy with platinum blonde hair staring at me constantly which left me feeling extremely self conscious about myself, wondering if I had grown a beard. He was with his family, I believe. His dad had flaming red hair, freckles spread all over his face and these deep oceanic blue eyes that the boy seemed to have inherited. Yet he had definitely inherited his mother's pale complexion and silvery blonde hair. She was incredibly pretty, and her eldest daughter (who had probably already graduated and was just sending her brother off) looked exactly like her, yet her second daughter didn't seem to look anything like her mother, with strawberry blonde hair and freckles identical to her father's dashed across her face.

The two minutes flew by in a flash and soon, everyone was boarding the train.

I dragged my luggage off the trolley while I readjusted Oceana's position on my shoulder. He was surprisingly an obedient cat so I didn't have problems of him escaping from me. That would've caused a lot of problems - for instance, I might've missed the train trying to find him.

"Be careful, and have fun, okay?" Kylie was starting to get slightly emotional and so was I. "Don't do anything naughty and be a good girl okay. I will miss you." She gave me a regretful look and pulled me into a hug. It was brief but very heartwarming.

"Goodbye Kylie." I wiped away the tears in my eyes and pulled her into one last hug

"I can't believe I will be living by myself for the next year of my life." Mum faked a sob. "I will miss you guys." Jake and I both took turns to give her a hug.

We gave them a wave and finally boarded the train, standing and queuing to get into compartments.

The train started moving as we continued to wave at Kylie and mum through the windows on the train. We started searching for compartments to settle down in as the train ride got slightly bumpier.

The first compartment was filled with first years that were playing some kind of wizard card game, one of them signaling towards Jake to come over. "Oi, wanna come over and play exploding snap together?" Jake gave me a look that said 'you decide', as I responded with an approving look. I didn't want to be the selfish and greedy sister that kept him from meeting new people just because I hadn't found anyone yet. Especially because he hardly had any experience with making friends back where we lived, and it would've been stupid to pass on a bundle of opportunities that were right in front of us.

So he ambled towards them, quickly setting his trunk into one of the upper cabinets and taking a seat next to a boy that spoke in a really enthusiastic manner. He seemed like the type of person that was always in a joyful mood and who always managed to put a smile on everyone's face.

And now I was all alone hunting down an empty compartment to settle down in so I could make new friends and be the happiest person in the world! Not likely.

I looked through the train compartments but they were either filled entirely to the point where I would have to squeeze into the overfilled compartment like a sardine and stick to them like glue during the whole journey, wobbling around with them whenever the trail was uneven and bumpy, and it would've been uncomfortably awkward. Or they were filled with unwelcoming snobby little brats that were too busy engaging in their inner circle to be friendly with anyone else. I guess this was the disadvantage of not starting off as a first year.

I reached the last few compartments of the train and at long last, I found a compartment with no more than two students chattering loudly or discussing the latest news. In fact, both of them were reading so it was quiet and peaceful. I finally settled down next to this familiar looking boy with blonde hair.

I pushed my trunk upwards with an effort and tried squeezing it into the upper cabinet, yet I was unsuccessful at doing this simplest of things. I even saw Jake doing it earlier, it seemed so effortless and easy, and for goodness' sake I was four years older than him. But considering Jake, he probably packed light and brought along as few things as possible so I guess we were even, since my trunk was ten times larger than his and I practically had to sit on it forcibly in order to zip it up.

If only I knew a spell, it would've been so much easier for me. But this was my first year here and I knew nothing about magic; so there were all the disadvantages of starting my wizarding education at that late point of my life.

And that was when that boy offered to assist me. I swear he could've just used a spell but he chose to lift it up with his toned arms as he placed it next to his trunk.

I pitied myself for being such a dependent little twit that needed someone else's help on something as simple as holding my trunk.

"Thank you so much." I replied gratefully.

"You're welcome. My name is Louis Weasley." he asked charmingly. At this point, a normal girl would have been drooling, but he wasn't really my type. But I guessed we could be really good friends.

"And I'm Chloe." I smiled, though I normally wasn't much of a smiler.

"Hmm, I've never seen you around before, are you an exchange student?" His almost invisible eyebrows shot all the way up to his hairline.

"I'm not exactly an exchange student; Professor McGonagall came barging into our house one day demanding to speak with my mum in private. Then she brought us to Diagon Alley to get school supplies." I explained.

"That's what they do with Muggle students; the headmaster comes to explain to your parents about the wizarding world and their invitation to Hogwarts."

"But my mum told me that my dad was a wizard. I'm half-blood."

"What's your dad's name? I would know if he worked in the Ministry."

"Seamus Finnigan."

"Hmm. I think I've heard my uncles, talk about him before." He tapped his chin in an Ollivander like manner, not that he was scruffy and old looking of course.

"I know this might be very complicated but I know nothing about magic and I'm going into my fifth year. My mum is a muggle and my dad is a wizard, and when Dad left us, actually when mum kicked him out of the house, I was only five years old so I knew nothing about my wizard heritage until last month. Mum told me that I should come here to control my magic a little and at least learn how to use it because it's a very special talent to have."

"That's very unusual." He commented, as he fiddled with his blonde tips as the girl sitting across us started snickering.

"Oh don't mind her; she's just my annoying little bookworm Cousin Lucy." He scoffed.

"I'm not laughing at you. I was reading my book, you idiot!" Lucy shot back, irritated. "And by the way, I'm not little. And if you weren't a bookworm yourself, how did you get the highest amount of OWLs in our year and do so well in class?" She put her book down and marked it with a bookmark.

I guessed he was the perfect person to ask for homework advice on.

"I don't actually like reading in my spare time, the good grades just come to me naturally." Louis said cockily.

"You conceited little brat," Lucy snorted. "Do you have any idea how hard I worked for my OWLs?" She was obviously displeased by Louis's attitude.

"You're head girl and head boy?" I interrupted, trying to stop them from arguing even more, a bit of shock and worry in my voice. And I also might've gone into the wrong compartment; I mean, annoying prefects badgering me about discipline was not something I wanted on my first day at a new school.

"Yes, I never expected the badge, but it came. So don't worry about me being a tattletale or an annoying little git, I was never head boy material anyway." Louis replied. "Lucy is." He gave a triumphant grin as Lucy smacked his arm. He hissed in pain as he started rubbing the area Lucy had hit. Lucy just started teasing him and chuckling.

"Hey not trying to inflate your ego any more than it needs to be inflated by but speaking of your relatives, your mum looks so young and beau-" I paused. "For her age." I said, not trying to sound like I was a philocalist or something. I was just curious about why his mother was so extraordinarily prettier than any normal girl's entire pretty factor combined.

Louis just stared at me, looking stunned, as it hit me that he now thought that I was trying to express how 'good-looking' he was indirectly, by using his family members as a reference. I mentally punched a wall. How could I be so stupid?

Lucy started snickering. "Victoire, eh? Veela blood," she responded simply.

"What is a Veela?" I asked, assuming that Victoire was Louis's blonde sister.

"They're simply the most elegant and beautiful creatures on earth. And dear Louis is one-eighth-Veela. And his mother Fleur is one-quarter-Veela." Lucy remarked.

At first I thought that Lucy had fabricated the story, but then I started thinking of elves, giants, goblins... so maybe Veelas DID exist after all. That also explained why his mother was so drop dead beautiful, not trying to be shallow or anything because I'm really not overemphasizing my observations here.

"I don't wanna sound egotistic or arrogant in any kind of way but-" Louis was cut off by Lucy's '"But you are!" He virtually disregarded her and continued babbling on. "Yes, I'm eighth-Veela, but blood gets thinner as generations pass and I usually don't let it get to my head. And besides, Dominique doesn't look Veela at all; she looks exactly like any other Weasley." Louis was probably regarding his second sister, the one with strawberry blonde hair. She had looked extremely energetic and cheerful.

"Are you implying that all Weasleys look the same, including me?" Lucy crossed her arms.

"You don't even have the typical red hair Weasley trait!" Louis defended, like he was actually slightly paranoid by Lucy's crabbiness.

"Exactly how many cousins do you have anyway?" I asked, sounding intrigued since I had no cousins, or maybe I did but I just didn't know about their existence. I mean, my mother was an only child and I know nothing personal about my father.

"That's a question you won't want answered." He flashed me a smile as I noticed how attractive he actually was, with the 'Veela' blood and all.

Suddenly, the train started shaking violently as there were a few pebbles on the trail we were running on.

I was about to plummet out of my seat and hit my head harshly against the compartment table when Louis grabbed me by the shoulder and prevented me from tumbling over my seat.

His firm grip reminded me so much of Jake's little protective grip. Then it hit me, the fact that he was exactly like my brother, protective, attentive and cheeky, except for the part where he was playfully cocky sometimes, scared me. He's basically the ideal older brother figure I've always wanted. I was good at predicting how he would react to certain things, and I was also intuitive about how he thought and how to deal with him when things happened.

As the train stopped rocking so aggressively, I noticed a clammy hand holding onto one of the handles on our compartment door.

"Anything sweet for you, dear?" We heard a raspy old lady voice offer kindly.

"An acid pop and some fizzing whizbees please." Louis paid and collected the sweets he had ordered.

Lucy bought a Liquorice Wand. She ripped off the rapper and started licking it. "I swear, those acid pops burn holes in your tongue." she commented sloppily.

"Nah, I like the sour and sparkling sensation it gives," Louis replied, sucking on his acid pop, his face not even twitching slightly from the sourness of the candy.

"For you dear?" The old lady directed towards me.

"Anything with chocolate?" I questioned.

"You should try the chocolate frogs." Louis suggested as I gave him a look of disgust. "Relax, they're only shaped like a frog," he reassured.

I asked the old lady for one. As it turned out, it was just milk chocolate. It tasted creamy and rich, like the expensive chocolate that I never got to eat.

After Lucy and Louis were both done with munching down their sweet little snacks, Louis said "Well we have to do our jobs as heads so bye for now Chloe." Louis and Lucy both rose from their seats and left the compartment to have their first prefect meeting and to escort the first years later on.

I guess time flies when you're having fun.

"One last question." I tugged on his arm as he turned around, giving me a questioning look.

"What houses are there? And what house are you in?"

"There's Gryffindor that stands for brave and kind, Hufflepuff for loyal, humble and hardworking, Slytherin for sly (probably where they got the name) and ambitious and finally Ravenclaw for intelligent and creative, which both Lucy and I are in though I think I'm more of a Slytherin." His eyes glistened when he said something about him wanting to be in Slytherin, Lucy just snorted in laughter as he strolled out of the compartment along with her.

Brave, loyal, smart and ambitious. Where did I belong in?

For the rest of the journey, I stayed in the compartment all by myself thinking of the possible house I could be sorted into.

Was I loyal or hardworking? Definitely not, I'm the laziest person ever. Smart and creative? Never nailed any of the creative writing essays. Cunning and ambitious, well, I could be ambitious when it comes to my passions and the things I enjoyed doing, cunning? Hmm, not really I guess, that was more of Jake's thing. Brave and kind? I personally loved roller coasters and adventure but I hated taking risks and being spontaneous. Kind? I don't know; ask my friends. If I admitted to being kind, it would mean that I'm not genuinely kind.

After roughly an hour of overanalyzing, I was completely stressed out.

Before we arrived, the train started shaking violently, but there was no Louis or Jake to protect me, so as the weak klutz that I was, I shook along with the train hitting my back on the train seat numerous of times, my chest bumping against the table as I hissed in pain. I tried holding onto the tables and several other strategies to prevent myself from causing any major injuries but it was hopeless.

I've always thought of myself as an independent person, but I guess that was just what I aspired to be; so I started believing that I was independent, even though I was just insecure. I always failed to defend myself especially if it was physical. I don't do any type of sport regularly so I was generally just bony and awkward looking, no muscles whatsoever.

When we finally arrived, we were told that the house elves would help bring our properties up to our dorm rooms. I was grateful that I didn't have to limp around like an idiot carrying my cat and my luggage that probably weighed a ton.

We rode on a fancy looking carriage pulled by invisible looking creatures, which I suppose were charmed with magic for people not to see them. As we learned afterwards, turns out that they were pulled by creatures called Thestrals who were only visible to people who had seen death. The carriages were made out of cushiony, posh white leather material. Ropes were tied around them and hung around invisible necks. There were no seat belts or safety rails on the carriage so I had trouble trying to hold on when we were rushing along a rocky, rough path.

We hopped off the dizzying, speedy carriage, which wasn't as royal and soothing as it looked. It was one hell of a bumpy, hazardous and nearly life risking ride - if I hadn't been holding on to the hand of some kid next to me, which was pretty creepy, I would've flown out of the carriage, hit my head on some rock and died a pretty tragic death!

Next, we got on rowing boats that were charmed with magic to row by themselves. The paddles swooshed around in a repetitive motion, all four of the paddles moving in the same motion and timing.

I was sat next to different kids from a variety of year groups, all of them seeming like they barely knew each other. Nobody spoke a word until we saw a figure of a tall and overpowering castle; it looked like it was about a hundred years old, slightly rusty yet also somehow tidy and neat. It was tall enough that we could feel its shadow hovering upon us like an intimidating monster. There were a few gasps coming from the first years or possibly some returning students that forgot how Hogwarts looked over the course of their summer holiday. I was completely amazed by how big the school actually was; it left me stuttering and breathless. It had a slight spooky and dark look to it but it wasn't exactly scaring me, I guess it was only because the sky was dark and stormy, the sound of roaring thunder and sparkles of lightning shooting in the sky. But funnily, it wasn't raining, so we didn't have problems with transportation. I'm sure that the school would look much warmer and more welcoming on a bright day - which I hoped would be soon because sunny skies in general lighten up my mood.

I cautiously got off the boat by slowly putting my right foot on the land first for balance, then jumping off, the boat tilting back and forth unstably. The few unfortunate kids left on the boat behind me were holding on tightly as the boat started quaking rapidly, almost flipping over.

It was a long walk to the actual school as I started having trouble breathing properly, panting loudly. Nobody took me seriously.

The main entrance of Hogwarts was covered with banners of the four houses, red, gold and a fierce looking lion representing Gryffindor, green, silver and a devious looking snake for Slytherin, blue, bronze and a raven for Ravenclaw and yellow, black and a badger for Hufflepuff.

The banners were hung on the stony and brick built wall of Hogwarts; it was a charcoal grey color, a thin layer of dirt covering the walls that made the grey look darker. Hogwarts was strongly built and it gave this weird vibe that it would never collapse or break down even after a few centuries later. It gave me a feeling of protection as I stepped in, like we would never be harmed under this roof.

We were escorted into the Great Hall by some of the prefects. I spotted Louis and Lucy when they both waved at me and told me to walk along with the pack, leading to the Great Hall. The hall was filled with hundreds of students, all separated in four groups, obviously according to house.

As the remaining few students came rushing in, McGonagall made her announcement as Headmistress. "Welcome to another year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, we all welcome you and hope you have a wonderful year here! May I introduce you to this year's staff, our new teacher, Professor Stark." She motioned towards our potions teacher, who had an extremely aloof and frosty look on her face. Her expression practically wiped away all of the happiness and glee in the great hall, leaving some first years petrified and other students stricken.

"Professor Kreuk, our new astronomy teacher." He seemed like the humble and generous kind of teacher, the ones who don't have favorites or prejudices. Which brought back all the jabbering and glee back to the great hall.

"Professor Todd, our new Defence teacher."

The fact that none of them were actually new to me since I was practically new here as well got me feeling like I'm missing out on things and isolated mentally.

"And like last year, we have Hagrid for Care of Magical Creatures, Professor Longbottom for Herbology, Firenze for Divination and I shall teach Transfiguration." Though the information was really crucial especially for me because I was new, McGonagall sounded so boring and monotonous that I nearly fell asleep.

Just then, a ghost like figure came swishing past me as I felt an unusual, indescribable sensation. A lively dead figure that wasn't supposed to exist had just come charging past me, not making a big deal out of it. Sorry if that sounded confusing because it was utterly confusing to me as well.

"Nearly Headless Nick! Nice to see you again!" One of the second years tried hugging the ghost in adoration yet the ghost looked perplexed and slightly dismayed, like he was disappointed that he could never truly hug anyone anymore.

****** pt2 will be uploaded as a separate chapter**


	4. Chapter 3 (part2): The Sorting Ceremony

Soon enough, I was standing along with the first years in a line for the sorting. I was at least a head taller than everyone and I stuck out like a sore thumb, which made me feel even more uncomfortable.

"Allen, Maggie." The first name was called as a girl with frizzy honey-blonde hair bashfully walked up to the stage, shaking.

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled as a few of her friends shot her a look of absolute horror while she returned it with a toothy grin. Even Jake looked astounded; it was like everyone expected her to be the innocent and adorable little girl, instead of the sneaky and sly little fox the hat saw in her.

Next off, one of her friends was called. "Blacksmith, Natalia." She had ravishing bouncy caramel curls cascading down her back like a waterfall, she nervously stepped towards the stage as Jake, for some reason, was eying her, a determined look on his face.

She gave several anxious glances at the Slytherin table, where Allen was sitting all by herself in a little corner at the end of the table hoping for one of her friends to end up in Slytherin with her, excluded from the second years.

"RAVENCLAW!" Allen gave a look of disappointment, but her unpleasant mood was quickly recovered with hope of her two other friends getting into Slytherin with her.

For some reason, I heard Jake hiss in victory as I raised my eyebrows, he just flashed me a fake smile. That cheeky little git is hiding something, I knew it. Speaking of cheeky, I would be in no surprise if he ended up in Slytherin.

"Bailey, Oliver"

"SLYTHERIN!"

A few more names were called as it got closer and closer to my name being called.

"Fernandez, Marie." The name before me was called as I felt Jake shivering behind me, tensed. Even I was nervous, and I'm never nervous.

"SLYTHERIN!" Allen whooped in joy as her raven-black haired friend skipped towards her, high-fiving her vivaciously.

"Finnigan, Chloe." I gazed around the school hall as I felt every eye turned towards me, especially because I was the only fifth year. My bottom lip started quivering as I bit on it, feeling a bursting surge of pain as blood started erupting out of the little bite I made with my front tooth. I hated the taste of blood; it had a strange metallic tinge to it. Then my bottom lip started swelling up.

"Chloe." Jake fretted, nudging me. "It's your turn," he reminded.

I trudged slowly towards the stage, each footstep feeling weighty.

I sat on the stool on the stage and put the sorting hat on. A feeling that if I made one little mistake, everyone would make a big deal out of it. The hat didn't fit on my head at all, it was heavy and lumpy. I tried fixing and adjusting the placement of my hat but it kept tilting onto one side. I moaned in frustration.

"Hmm. You would definitely make a good Gryffindor, reckless, brave, kind... hmm not all the time." I felt slightly offended when the sorting hat said that I wasn't kind all the time, what did he mean? But the sorting hat is completely truthful and it's the only reliable source that could judge my true natures accurately so I guess I just needed to accept it.

"But you have potential for Slytherin as well. Ambitious, clever, cunning hmm, sometimes. It's your choice."

I was pretty startled by the sorting hat's choice, I never expected to be even considered a Slytherin OR Gryffindor yet now I was landed a choice of either Gryffindor or Slytherin.

But somehow, I seemed to have always imagined myself in Gryffindor with Jake, or in Ravenclaw with Jake. Though clearly I was not suitable for intellect and Jake was not suitable for courage. Just the depth of my imagination I guess.

I glanced around to the Gryffindor table, where they all gave me supportive thumbs-ups and flashy smiles. They all seemed to have this lively and welcoming spirit going on. Typically, this boy with dark hair and emerald-looking eyes cheered loudly with the others, smiling bashfully at me.

I then turned to the Ravenclaw table, where Louis was waving at me giving me a heartwarming grin.

"What about Ravenclaw? Can I pull it off?" I questioned the hat in my head.

"No no, it would take a lot of effort and I just don't think you're suitable for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. But if you're really, really desperate for it..." he answered me.

I then looked around to the Slytherin table, where everyone sat around lacking any sort of interest in the sorting ceremony. Comparing to Gryffindor, their cheeriness level was so scarce they almost reminded me of the mini group of girls on the train that looked purely unaffiliated. That was when it hit me, those WERE the Slytherins, would I want to be around moody people for the rest of my life here?

"Are you considering Slytherin?" He asked me, in a not so surprised tone considering that I was staring intensely at them for the past few seconds.

"I don't know if I get to choose or not but I'd rather Gryffindor beca-" I was cut off. What I was trying to say was that the Slytherins were so humdrum they can practically make me fall asleep while flying on a broomstick or something.

"Then Gryffindor it is!" "GRYFFINDOR!" It yelled, as the Gryffindors started applauding.

I might've heard him say "If fun was your thing, then you're no doubt a Gryffindor!" as I smiled.

I looked around for an empty seat when that same boy with the dark hair waved his hands deliberately in the air, asking me to come over. Since there was no other vacant seat, I rushed over to where he was gesturing to. He later lowered his hands and gazed around the room in embarrassment. I took a seat next to him and this girl with bushy flaming red hair.

"Hi... Um... I'm Albus. And forget my hand wave thing, you know, um. You know, I shouldn't've done that." He greeted me nervously while giving me a weak smile, the girl with the flaming red hair started laughing. And somehow, he had a tiny resemblance to Louis.

"Hey I'm Chloe Finnigan, or Parrish, whatever you like to call me." I replied, returning the smile he gave me. Realizing what I just said, I sighed mentally, how can I be so stupid, this is not the way I should be introducing myself to new people.

He gave me a weird look as the girl next to me greeted me with "I'm Rose Weasley." She shook my hand, as I also noticed them both looking a little bit like each other.

Wait a second, did she just say Weasley? I mean how many Weasley's are there exactly in the wizarding world anyway? And also I did remember Louis mentioning that it had a heck load of cousins. But could it have been a coincidence?

"Wait are you and Louis related?" I widened my eyes in shock.

"Yes." They both responded simultaneously. "How.. How do you know Louis?" Albus asked, still a little bit nervous, as he shot me an analytical look.

I turned my attention over to the Ravenclaw table, where Louis was standing there excluded from a few of the blokes in his year, looking upset. I felt rather sympathetic for him, the feeling of being isolated and all. Lucy seemed to be nowhere in sight. But the view was rather unexpected, I've always imagined him to have lots of friends and tons of girls trailing after him, yet in return, there were a few Ravenclaw girls glaring at him for being too much of a goody two shoe as he started shushing them for raising their voices. I guess he was only fun and playful around family and friends. The Louis I was seeing now was definitely how Lucy described him to be, getting perfect grades and all.

"He guided me on the train and told me how awesome Hogwarts was." I tucked my shirt into my skirt uncomfortably, obviously not use to wearing uniforms especially thick dress robes as we wore casual clothes at my old school.

"Yeah, he's my cousin." Albus replied nonchalantly.

"And are you two related?"

"Yeah she's also my cousin. But I'm the only Potter excluding James and Lily in my circle of cousins. If you know what I mean." He assumingly got use to my presence, therefore he wasn't as much of a nervous wreck anymore.

"Do we even look alike?" Rose interrupted, sounding slightly offended.

"What you make it sound like a bad thing when you're the person with the bushy hair and bucktooth, not me." Albus pointed out, as I chuckled. He turned his attention back to me and shot me a sheepish grin.

"Excuse me? Did Malfoy put you under the imperius curse or something?" Rose frowned at Albus as he just shrugged.

That was when I heard my brother's name being called. "Finnigan, Jake." I quickly turned my attention to the stage instead. There was a lengthy pause, the usual chattering in the hall slowly draining as I heard the slightest of sounds, the tickling of a clock, the 'clanging' of a fork hitting the solid rock pavement. I heard the thumping of my heart beating speedily against my chest.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat yelled. I hate to admit, I was slightly disappointed that he was sorted into a different house, but I was kind of expecting it. Seeing that he was definitely smart and creative and didn't meet any of the characteristics of a Gryffindor. But I was sort of wondering if he would've been put in Slytherin, since he can be the cheekiest and most smug person ever.

Louis seemed pretty elated as he guided him to a seat next to a bunch of other first year Ravenclaw's. He then sat next to the Blacksmith girl he had his eyes on earlier when she was being sorted, he beamed victoriously as she friskily glared at him.

Wait a minute. Did Jake choose to go into Ravenclaw just for the sake of a girl? I'm so going to murder him! You have got to be kidding me Jake. He belongs in Slytherin! How could he've missed this chance just for a girl? This was something the Jake I knew would never do. Maybe I was just envious that he was only eleven yet he had a better love life than me. Or maybe he was also turned off by the lack of enthusiasm and livelihood Slytherin had. We definitely needed to talk.

"Was that your brother?" Albus asked, curious.

"No captain obvious, that's my sister Janice." I replied sarcastically. I tend to snap often whenever I was over-thinking/dwelling on something or when I was irritated. Which I realized two seconds after it slipped out of my mouth how rude I sounded. I widened my eyes in panic. "Bloody hell, what a way to-"

"No... No, it's completely fine Chloe." He shot me another one of his sheepish grins.

"I'm sorry Albus. I mean we just met and all..."

"You can.. um call me Al. That's what, you know, everyone calls me." He shot me another one of his weak smiles while ruffling his messy hair. The thing I liked about him was how genuine his smiles were, they weren't flashy or fake, and he wasn't aloof or frosty either. Rose was just laughing hysterically, clapping like a seal and rocking her chair back and forth as 'Al' glared daggers at her. Her laughter seemed to have echoed through the entire Gryffindor table, earning a few awkward glances and a snicker from this young girl with mahogany colored hair; who was apparently Al's little sister, Lily.

"Real smart Albus Severus." This other boy that looked a lot older than us with dark brown hair who apparently was Al's older brother, James started chortling, choking on chicken.

"We're not suppose to eat yet! Not until the sorting's over." I heard a piercing and feminine voice shriek, nudging him while giving him a look of disgust.

"Seriously? You're called Albus Severus? That's an interesting name." I pointed out, shooting him an amused look. Al's cheeks flushed a delicate pink color, as the majority of his family cracked into laughter. While Louis didn't look really happy as he came flouncing over from the Ravenclaw table in a fury, shushing us.

"Yeah yeah, headboy, we get it." James smirked, satisfied.

"Then stop talking! I can here your laughs from across the hall." He complained, sternness plastered all over his face.

"Stop it with your act of being the goody two shoes headboy Louis, its kind of pathetic; no offence." James taunted, winking at him playfully. He looked and acted nothing like Al, Al was pretty shy and quirky, while James seemed like the wild animal, jokester/prankster of the family.

Louis told me he wasn't head boy material but he was completely wrong, I guess he just doesn't notice it himself. I mean McGonagall isn't stupid, I'm sure she appointed the 'right' people to do the right job.

"If you don't stop talking, I will duck points off Gryffindor." Louis warned, that seemed to have shut James up.

"Hansen, Sean."

"SLYTHERIN!" The Slytherins didn't seem intrigued at all as there were only a few people cheering; their lack of enthusiasm was the main reason why I chose Gryffindor over them.

"Jacobs, Camille"

"GRYFFINDOR!" Everyone around me started applauding boisterously as Jacobs wandered over to our table, sitting down at the end of the table.

"Morgan, Elizabeth"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hufflepuffs started clapping loudly as she was their very first Hufflepuff of the year.

Soon enough, the sorting ceremony was over as we were told to start eating our grand feast prepared by the house elves, though I was still not use to the idea of someone or in this case, an elf cooking for me. At home, it was always mum or a simple breakfasts like cereal; which only required the skill of pouring milk into a bowl, so I did that by myself.

James and some of the Slytherins like this chubby second year called Goyle started eating sneakily without anyone noticing before the sorting ceremony and the speeches started. I wondered how James wasn't put in Slytherin seeing as he was definitely cunning and cheeky.

"In honor of the 25th Anniversary since Uncle Ron and dad crashed into the Whomping Willow with Grandpa Arthur's flying car." James raised his glass of coke, a mischievous grin on his face. As the rest of the family did the same, the sound of glass cups clashing into each other. Everyone started cheering and laughing but Al looked like he just choked down a brussels sprout, like he wanted to get out of here and throw up.

"Hey what's wrong?" I shot him a worried look, putting my arm around his shoulders as he tensed up.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He said a bit too quickly, which left me in suspicion.

"I know we just met, but you can tell me anything okay? Not trying to be arrogant or anything but I'm a good listener." I reassured, giving him a warm smile.

"How is that arrogant?" He complimented, as my cheeks flushed lightly and so did his. He started playing with his hair again, I guessed it was one of his habits that he performed whenever he got nervous. We stared at each other closely for a few seconds as my aquamarine colored eyes bored into his forest green ones. I observed every little hazel fleck in his eyes, how they swirled together with the green so handsomely.

"Want some gravy?" Rose interrupted as we both looked away from each other nervously.

"Yeah sure." I replied, as Rose cocked her brow up, pouring gravy onto my mash potatoes. "Is something wrong?" Rose looked into our eyes deeply. Al was still avoiding her gaze.

"Everything is wrong, Weasley! Including how you look like a breed of your scruffy old friend Hagrid and the disgusting wild animals, 'Hippogriffs'." A blonde smug looking boy from across at the Slytherin table retorted, the two sidekicks beside him snickering simultaneously. This girl with curly brown locks started giggling a few seconds later, like she was trying really hard to impress him, thinking that laughing at his lame jokes would appeal to him. Why are the Slytherins so difficult to like? It's like they want me to go against them and start despising all of them when I hardly knew any of them.

"Shut up Malfoy! Your coward of a father was the one who got attacked by a hippogriff and demanded to get him executed just because he disrespected and didn't think highly of him like he expected it to. To Hippogriffs, no one is more superior than anyone else. So stop being a conceited little arsehole and mind your own business!" Rose shot back, flushing in anger and munching on some boiled carrots.

"My my, Rosie posey. You are looking as red as the apples I pick from my garden." Malfoy mocked, sneering as Rose glowered at him. "The angry flush actually suits you though. Well, it couldn't be any worse than your bushy sewer rat's arse of a hair." Malfoy continued, receiving ten death glares from the Gryffindor table, consisting of Rose's cousins. Excluding James Potter, who was stomping the table with his fists, tears sputtering out of his eyes. He definitely belonged in Slytherin along with the guileful gits, I thought.

"You're impossible." Rose retorted. "Egregiously insufferable." Lily added.

"Impossible to resist, they say." Malfoy simpered. "Right, Vanessa?" He directed at the Malfoy-obsessed dummy who was apparently called Vanessa. She nodded eagerly, having a delusion that Malfoy genuinely liked her; not even noticing that she was being used to annoy Rose.

"What's funny is how you're paying attention to every word she's saying. I thought you hated her, it's like the other way around!" I pointed out as everyone stared at me with a bedazzled look on their faces. I stopped gobbling down mashed potato since it was humiliating that everyone was staring at me while I was eating. I hate to say this and mum would be disappointed, but those house elves cooked so much better than my mum; the gravy sauce is delicious.

For some odd reason, Rose tried hiding her face and ignoring my remark. "Excuse me?" Malfoy scowled at me, a murderous look on his face.

"All I'm saying is that you guys should stop arguing and be." Everyone blinked at me, their eyes widened. "Civil." I licked off some gravy sauce that got on my fingers.

"Civil?" He scoffed, nearly choking on air. "Weasley and I have hated each other since First Year! Do you really expect us to be friends automatically?" He added, giving me a look of pure loathing as Rose nodded. "This is the only thing he've ever said that I agree on."

"It's barely been an hour since I've gotten here, how would I know? Rose, I was defending you, and now you're defending him? This is utterly unbelievable!" I exclaimed, getting slightly irritated. I hated how I got mad so easily, it gets out of control and I end up bursting out everything I have on my mind. The plates on the table vibrated slightly, fortunately, nobody noticed. I had to hope that McGonagall was right about learning magic and having this 'control my magic' problem just going away by itself.

"I'm not defending him!" Rose cried.

"Glad to see the two of you arguing." Malfoy smirked. "It's like someone is doing the job for me? Want some popcorn anyone?" He joked, as his sidekicks started sniggering again.

"If you're done with your food, you should thank the house elves and you may head to your dorms. The prefects would guide you to your dormitories." McGonagall announced in a flat voice. It was amusing how engaging she had sounded when she brought Jake and I to Diagon Alley, yet when she was making announcements, she sounded boring and strict.

Malfoy snorted. "Thank the house elves, what is that old hag's problem? Who do those stupid elves think they are? They're servants, they work for us, they don't deserve to be respected." He muttered as his sidekicks praised him, like he was a king or something. While the rest of the Slytherin looked uninterested in what he had to say.

Thankfully for him, McGonagall didn't hear him, so he wasn't awarded detention first day back here; unfortunately for Rose, who would've docked points off from Slytherin plus gave him a month worth of detention if she was head girl. She thinks that it's unfair how Malfoy got away with almost everything.

Rose had a 'don't you dare insult them!' look on her face, apparently, her mother organized a club called SPEW; it was to give welfare and freedom to house elves that were treated like low class people in the wizarding community. After the second wizarding war, which we were taught about in History of Magic later on at school and which Rose and Al's parents participated in, the situation had been improved but Rose still supports her mother's idea of a better society.

She groaned in vexation. "That stupid git!" She muttered under her breath.

"Not a really great combat Weasley!"

We were dismissed and everyone was heading to their dorms. I desperately tried searching for Jake as I spotted him chattering up the Blacksmith girl.

"Hey Jake, are you sure you were meant to be in Ravenclaw?" I demanded, crossing my arms together.

"Of course I was! What do you mean?" He exclaimed, leering at me looking slightly confused. It was also out of character for Jake to get even the tinsy bit mad as he was always the calm, problem solving one.

"Did the hat choose or did you choose?" I interrogated, sounding slightly like an overly attached and way too overprotective sister.

"He offered Ravenclaw or Slytherin and I chose Ravenclaw... What's the big deal?" He asked.

"Did you choose Ravenclaw just for that Blacksmith girl?" I asked directly as he and Blacksmith shot me a look of confusion.

Then he gasped in realization as his face started scrunching up in pure repugnance. "For god's sake, Chloe, since when where you this protective? We made a bet, okay? That if she was sorted into Ravenclaw, I won't have to pay for my chocolate frog. Since I idiotically spent all of my money the other day, I didn't have any money to buy candy! I tried trading the chocolate frog for a fever fudge but she refused, so she made a bet with me!" He explained as Blacksmith nodded behind him in a disgusted manner.

Since they were both only eleven, I didn't expect them to understand what I meant immediately. I guess they were Ravenclaws for a reason then.

"We're only eleven, what did you expect?" Blacksmith added, disgusted, reading off my mind like it was a flashcard.

I was stunned speechless; Jake never lied to me, so I guess I should be the one apologizing for doubting him. "I'm sorry okay."

"And by the way, you owe me money!" He smirked ominously, Blacksmith smirking along with him, crossing their arms together in the same manner.

Those two better whack their smirks of their faces before I start calling them identical twins, I thought. "What why?" I asked, my brows knitting together, confused and feeling slightly threatened.

"You stole a few of my skiving snack box candies. It's the right thing to do for me to make profit out of it, right?" He pointed out as I gave him a sheepish look. Perceptive, exactly what I was saying earlier. That boy was wily, I mean look at him taking advantage of me when he was the one who carelessly used up all of his money.

I glared at him and gave him a galleon. "Promise me you won't use it on bets." I fished him away from it until he nodded obediently.

Half of the students had left by now, so I raced towards the Gryffindor tower, trying to find Rose or Albus. I scurried up the staircase, panting heavily. Halfway through, my energy was already drained from me. Wouldn't it be torture to have to walk up these stairs everyday? I mean I would've gladly preferred the Slytherin dungeons over this, even after I realized how arrogant Malfoy was and that I had to stick up with him and his clan if I chose Slytherin.

I kept running until I crashed into a portrait with a fat lady painted onto it. We both yelped in pain. "Watch where you're going missy!" The fat lady in the portrait started moving, an agitated look on my face as I realized that the person in the painting was actually talking to me.

"I'm so sorry... Can I get in?" I darted away from the painting.

"Password?" She commanded.

"I'm sorry what?"

"No password, no entry."

"But I'm new here!" I pleaded.

"I've said it before, not saying it again." The fat lady still refused to let me in. Luckily, Al was relaxing on one of the beanbags in the Gryffindor common room and seemed to have heard someone crashing into the fat lady, as he wandered out in curiosity.

"What's the password?" I sighed in relief as I spotted Al coming over, running over to him and grabbing on his arm as he flinched a little.

"Oh it's flobberworm." He answered as the fat lady had no choice but to swing open. It revealed a room with flaming red walls and golden curtains, with a crystal chandelier hung on the ceiling; the dazzling crystals reflecting the flames that a few students surrounded. As the fire roared ferociously, I might've heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the fireplace.

"Why do I hear a voice coming from the fireplace?" I looked around the room, astounded, or was I just imagining things?

"Just some homesick first years talking to their parents." Al answered casually, like it happened every year and he was use to it.

"Through the fireplace?" I widened my eyes in bewilderment, pointing at the few kids, who were now weeping in agony. "Mummy! Don't go! Daddy!" One of the kids started stomping his foot like he was having a tantrum.

I giggled slightly, feeling guilty right afterwards, wondering if Jake was doing the same in the Ravenclaw common room. Though he was never expressive or emotional in the slightest bit, so I guess he was possibly playing a good game of Exploding Snap along with his new friends.

I then walked over to where Rose was sitting. "I'm sorry that I freaked you out earlier. My temper gets out of control sometimes..." I acknowledged, hoping that she would forgive me. She was reading a new muggle novel called 'The Fault in Our Stars', which was one of my all time favorite books. Before she could've said anything I gasped in excitement. "I can't believe you like the Fault in our Stars! It's the best book ever!" I practically squealed in joy.

"Mum was reading it one day and since I loved all of the muggle love novels and plays she recommended, like Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, I decided to try it out." Her focus was still drawn to her book as she placed her fingers in between a page a few seconds later, gazing up at me. I noticed how her fiery red locks seemed to have camouflaged along with the room, looking not as vibrant as I saw them at the Great Hall.

"I'm not an enormous fan of plays by Shakespeare but love novels are always heart warming and nice to read." I replied, personally thinking that Shakespeare plays were too overrated and exaggerated; a normal couple won't fall in love and kill themselves in four days, I mean that's just psychotic. Once again, I don't believe in love.

It might have a good plot and all but I just think that being dramatic about love is pointless and annoying. Love is just lust or an infatuation. I've never actually had good experience with love, so I guess my point isn't really relevant. But I haven't had a serious dating relationship with anyone; I just think that being too attached or dependent on someone who crushes your hopes later on when they leave you would just make you feel more depressed, because nothing is permanent. It's intimidating to think that you either break up with them, someone you prioritize only at that moment or you stay with them forever, and forever is a long time.

However, Rose seemed to be too devoted to her book to even notice what I just said to her, so I assumed that I was forgiven. Basically, that was my way of asking a friend for forgiveness; instead of admitting defeat, pretending to forget about the situation and cheering them up with something else was always the option for best results.

"Which way's to our dorm?" I questioned Rose but she was distracted by her book and seemed to have ignored me.

"She's always like that whenever she starts reading, I know I'm a bloke but I can... Um.. you know, show you the way." Al had apparently been listening to our conversation the whole time as he was standing right behind me. I jumped up in shock. He looked extremely nervous.

"No you didn't say anything wrong, relax. I just didn't know you were behind me." I tried calming him down.

Rose started cackling uproariously as I assumed she was laughing at some kind of Fault in Our Stars reference, though I do remember it being more of a heartwarming and emotional book instead of a book full of humors and jokes. Al glared at her as Rose acted like she was concentrating on reading the book.

So Al proceeded in front of me as I trailed behind him. He then grabbed my hands with his sweaty and slightly wet palms, it wasn't exactly comforting but it didn't feel disgusting at all. He tried pulling me gently so I walked a little bit faster, still following him like a lost puppy trying to find shelter. He finally led me towards a spiral staircase.

"The um.. it's umm.. charmed so that boys can't get in. So, umm... I will leave you here." He stuttered as he frantically waved at me and ran away. I stared at him, confounded, as I marched up the spiral stairs step by step. The stairs left me feeling light-headed. More stairs, the sorting hat wasn't kidding when he called it a fun and lively house.

But I still didn't understand why one minute ago, Al tried getting closer to me by holding my hand in a friendly way, yet now he was practically trying to avoid me.

I slammed the door open to see a room with five beds and a working desk for every single student accordingly placed in an order. It was much roomier than I thought it would've been and so far, nothing there has been lower than my expectations.

One side of the room was filled with books, a few muggle novels messily splattered around it's desk. Thousands of spell books and wizarding knowledge books organized neatly in it's shelf, all in alphabetical order. That was definitely Rose's corner of the dormitory. A siamese cat was lying on her bed sleeping soundly. I guessed Oceana can make a new friend!

Then there was this girl with espresso dark brown hair and a couple of light brown highlights in her hair, sitting on her bed munching on a blueberry muffin, a few crumbs falling onto her bed carelessly. She sat up as I cringed, seeing her bum crushing the muffin bits into smaller pieces. All I want was for her not to eat on my bed. "Hey! I'm Keira Clarke!" Her voice full of animation, she seemed like such a gregarious person. "We haven't had a dorm mate since first year!" She squealed in excitement. Her existence honestly livens up the entire room, I don't even know how people like her managed to do that.

"I'm Chloe." I greeted, trying to sound enthusiastic, ending up sounding even more apathetic than usual.

The other corner of the room were filled with perfumes, muggle makeup products and latest magazines on 'how-to: 5 steps to get a boyfriend!' tips. There were a few Weasley's Wizarding Wheeze pimple vanishers lying around too, I guess they were pretty popular even among females here in the wizarding world struggling with bad skin.

I heard a loud bang as someone slammed the door behind them. A girl with fake looking blonde hair came sashaying into the room, a big contrast between her natural hair color which was a muddy brown, judging from her roots. She had an unbelievable amount of blush and fake tan on and it made her look like a drag queen. I was pretty astonished wondering why I never saw her at the Great Hall, I mean dressing like that would've definitely caught my attention, exactly what she was looking for I guess.

I chuckled a little as she rolled her eyes spitefully. "And who are you?" She shrieked, desperately trying to make her voice sound girly and high-pitched, probably thinking that it was cute.

"Chloe. You?" Still trying to stop myself from laughing.

"Wendy Sampson." She glared at me with her beady brown eyes. As she heard someone call her name, she sashayed out of the room in her mini heels and slutty, degrading short skirt that was probably against the school dress code.

I pulled out the extendable ear I got from the Weasley joke shop the other day and threw it out of the dorm room door. Wendy didn't seem to notice as she wasn't observant or aware about anything other than herself.

"Al! Allie!" I heard her call in an extremely phoney voice. Allie has got to be the most feminine name for a bloke yet, it makes 'Albus Severus' sound like a brilliant name. Guys! We have a premature pornstar on the run! Which I assume was trying to lure Al into one of her skanky little traps, and this is my friend Al we're talking about here.

"Um. Hi Wendy." Al replied in an uninterested tone.

"Would you want to be with me this Saturday?" She pleaded him in a feigned sugary persuasive tone that I was so disgusted to hear I practically choked on air.

"I have quidditch try-outs to go through, since I'm the team captain, I have the responsibility to organize the team." He answered simply.

"Please Allie, don't you want to be with me?" She faked a hurt and devastated look, assumingly pouting and doing the puppy dog face.

My eyes lowered dangerously as I realized that I was glowering at the door. I felt hot boiling rage running through my veins for some reason. I snorted in disgust. "Could tone down the overall fake meter down a little bit."

"Basically what I advise her to do but she doesn't listen to anyone but herself! What do I really expect from a conceited little brat that loves herself anyway?" Keira said.

"What a wannabe, it's painful and kind of intolerable to watch. I guess a school isn't a school without the attention seeking shallow airheads." I muttered as Keira chuckled.

Oceana was waiting for me on my bed and my luggage was lying next to my bed, I combed my fingers through his fluffy fur as he purred soothingly, a satisfied look on his face.

"Your cat is adorable! What's it's name?" Keira asked, while cuddling Oceana and caressing him with her neon manicured hand.

"Oceana." "And your nails look 'fabulous'!" I faked an american valley girl accent as Keira giggled.

"Thanks! Do you want to get your nails done too?" Keira offered, showing me her collection of nail polishes. "You pick!" I was mesmerized by her uncountable amount of nail colors; there were metallics, glitters, cremes, special effect nail polishes, ranging from color to color.

Surprisingly, I didn't have any nail polish on at that moment so I willingly placed my hand on her lap and told her I wanted an autumn-themed manicure look. She first painted my nails a tomato orange and a burgundy wine red color and started drawing these leave patterns on it.

"You're very talented, how do you even do nail art without shaking and messing all over creating huge blobs of failure? I can barely paint them without getting nail polish all over the place." I was startled by her skills of nail art, I've gone to so many nail shops in my life and her work is comparable to those professionals out there. If she didn't succeed here in the wizarding world, she should actually consider opening a nail shop in the muggle world.

"I was always fascinated by the concept of nail polish, so one day, I tried using a toothpick and some regular paint brushes to create a design. I started off really poorly as well, but then I practiced and now I'm able to 'nail' it without messing up. No pun intended." She laughed. "By the way, I didn't mean it when I said that I nailed it, don't mistake me as Wendy Sampson's twin sister in disguise or something. I would never throw my success into someone's face, not like Wendy's 'successful' in any kind of way..." She added, as we both cracked up laughing, my eyes getting watery from laughing so hard.

I loved Keira; she was fun, lovable, talkative, caring and humorous.

We were having a great time until Wendy came stomping back into the room in hysterics. "He rejected me!" She sobbed as one of her friends (surprising that she even had any) started comforting her, patting her back. "What did I do wrong? Can someone tell me? All I did was ask him out on a date!" She screeched, her piercing voice almost breaking my eardrums.

"Hmm. Maybe it's just you." I muttered.

"That was a rhetorical question!" She whimpered. I was shocked to hear that she even knew what that word meant.

How can she be so clueless? Everything was wrong about her! From her fake hair, fake lashes, fake tan to her fake nails, from head to toe. Why would anyone want to be even 'seen' with a whiny bitch like her? I mean, I was slightly mortified by the fact that we're even the same species. I felt greatly offended.

The worst thing is that we were dorm mates; we were sleeping in the same room, breathing the same air and sharing the same shower. And this was not just for one year, its was for three! Unless she magically switched to Slytherin or something, where I thought she belonged in, not stereotyping them or anything. But other than that, we're stuck together like glue when we both want to bite each other's heads off.

Her sick perfume stench wafted through the air, invading my region of fresh air'. It was a bottle of ten-year old Chanel perfume that she probably got from her mother or older sister as a hand me down, unless she wore nauseating perfume as a five year old. But the fact that she finds the scent appealing still makes me want to vomit my entire dinner, onto her actually.

Since the scent nauseated me and even got on my clothes, I decided to take a shower. But when I went in the bathroom with my personal products to start organizing into shelves, Wendy's sidekick Donna Fletcher was organizing Wendy's beauty products that took away half of the space of our bathroom. There were ten bottles of spray tan splattered around the table, some brown looking residue messed all over the table. I stared at it in disgust, our dorm was already filled with so many of her stuff, I really didn't expect to see our bathroom overflowing with her stuff too!

That was when Keira barged in. "Most of my things are in my room and Rose, well she doesn't do anything to her personal appearance other than combing and washing her hair."

"But this isn't fair, it's not her territory and we're supposed to share it!" I complained.

So I threw her used spray tan bottles in the bin, picking on them, not wanting to stain my fingers with the icky, filthy brown tan.

I also wore a glove just in case some of her repugnant disgusting gels, makeup, hair products or artificial flower smelling body lotions; that smelt like my grandma's curtains got on my hands. I mean, I understand that girls like to dress up to make themselves look more attractive, I use makeup too. But she was literally dolling herself up; caking her face up with so much deliberate makeup and attempting to look like a real life Barbie doll when she looks like a ventriloquist's dummy gone wrong! Or some plastic surgery failure.

I threw half her stuff that took all the space in 'our' shelves into a plastic bag and replacing it with my signature vanilla bean body spray I used every single day, my marshmallow scented body lotion and a few cleansers plus the Weasley shop pimple vanishers.

"Don't invade her property!" Donna mumbled. Donna was Wendy's sidekick/follower that did whatever Wendy did and who treated her like a queen, practically worshipping her. She was extremely defensive of Wendy, even if it wasn't necessary.

"I don't care; if she gets in my way, I'm tearing it apart." I shot back, confidently.

Donna heaved a sigh and left the bathroom. She came back a few seconds later with Wendy tied around her arm. Wendy looked furious, presumably because she was interrupted from her 'progressing' bond with Al. And also because I disposed of her beloved and precious fake tan that she said was essential to her long and seemingly endless list of things on her daily routine.

"You! Put it back to where they were!" She screamed, who does she think she is? Some superior queen that ruled her country of two, herself and Donna? Or some wannabe famous celebrity that was talentless and famous for no reason (like the Kardashians, for example) yet arrogant and thinking importantly of herself? Probably both, in her shallow and narrow-minded imagination of course.

"And why would I obey any of your demanding and whiny commands? The bathroom is for us to share, it's not all yours! Quit being a spoilt narcissistic brat and learn how to share! The world doesn't revolve around you." I exclaimed, nearly screaming as Keira came running in again, shooting me an applauding look.

She started gaping, opening her mouth and shutting it constantly, looking like a bugger eyed goldfish. Stunned, she managed to spit two words out. "Excuse me?"

"The space is not entirely yours! Plus it actually doesn't belong to any of us; it is property of this school. If you don't stick to the rules and share this space with any of your dorm mates, I'm notifying McGonagall." I said menacingly as she rolled her eyes.

"Nothing was a problem before you came! Why don't you and your filthy cat go away and sleep in the common room?" She snapped.

"And why don't you throw your filthy fake tan away and shower in the boy's dormitory, where you belong!" I argued, enraged. She was about to slap me when Keira pulled us away from each other. I started fidgeting and jumping around in irritation. I'm so not letting that little slag get away from almost attacking me in the face. "I think you went a little too far." Keira said as I sighed in frustration.

It has only been a day, not even an hour to be specific since I've met her. How am I suppose to deal with her drivel when I had so much to catch up on, especially schoolwork? I didn't even know why I despised her so much even though she didn't really do anything to hurt me. It's like her existence annoyed the hell out of me.

"I swear, I really am going to strangle her if she doesn't clean that mess up." I was still extremely angered by her.

Keira chuckled as she continued chewing on her blueberry muffin. "Want a bite?" She kindly offered as I looked away trying to avoid her gaze, first of all, I hated blueberries and second of all it seemed like a few days old...

I decided that I really needed a shower so I headed into the bathroom, seeing it spotlessly clean, all of Wendy's stuff cleared out of my sight. I smiled in satisfaction, even after what I said to her, I really didn't expect her to be this reasonable.

I hopped into the shower, rinsing the dirt out of my hair pleasurably, with the oil out of my hair, it felt so much cleaner and it was like I was washing off the stress I had today. I applied some tropical scented conditioner to smooth out my hair leaving it tangle free and soft. Kylie got me hair products when she went to a trip to the Caribbeans last summer,

Me popping out of the shower smelling fruity and fresh like a real life pineapple. I rubbed my body with a towel, dabbing it gently to dry myself. I then wrapped the towel around my hair and slipped into my pajamas.

My makeup which was basically only a coat of mascara, some concealer and blush to add color and definition to my face has completely worn off. I guess my eyes just looked a little less alluring and I had a slight purple tinge under my eyes. But I was absolutely fine with my dorm mates seeing me without any makeup on, unlike someone who wore makeup to sleep just because she hated being seen without any makeup on. Unless Wendy was extremely vindictive and her revenge strategy was to take pictures of me sleeping and exposing it all over school on flyers with catchy headlines like "New kid Chloe SNORING like a pig in her sleep'. Something embarrassing that would ruin my fairly well reputation, not like I really cared what people thought of me but I guess it was nice not to be the laughing stock of the school. I mean Wendy would've loved to be in the limelight, no matter negatively or positively; but I'd rather stay out of it.

I was naturally on the pale side but I didn't bother caking up just for the sake of looking tanner. I honestly think that spray tan makes your skin look uneven and unblended. Making you look tan in the body yet pale in the face. And I didn't want to bother applying a darker shade of coverage on my face every morning so I just left it natural.

"Are you done?" Rose knocked on the door impatiently as I hastily combed my hair. I swung the door open and let her in, darting right into bed, not even bothering to blow dry my hair.

After almost half an hour of lying in my bed fondling Oceana and keeping her right next to me, my pillow was dampened and moistened, so I flipped the pillow around and dozed off into slumber.

In the middle of the night, I was awoken by the chattering of Wendy and Donna. Wendy was talking about her crush on Ben Felton and Al, saying that she couldn't pick between the two, while Donna was giving her horrible advice on how to make them fall in love with her. I just glared at her, and if looks could kill, she would've been dead the minute I met her, but since it was dark and I was under my blanket, she didn't know that I was awake. So she babbled on and on about how handsome and cute Al was, I started choking and gasping for air as I saw her looking suspiciously at Rose; seeming that Al and Rose were cousins and that they were close, it was so dumb of her not to recognize my voice.

She was clearly infatuating, she doesn't even like Al for his personality, she's possibly just obsessing over his relatively good looks and the fact that he's a good Quidditch player or something. I mean, I found it really difficult to see through Al's shell. And because Wendy wasn't aware of anything other than herself, it would be even harder for her to solve a puzzle piece like Al.

**Author's Note: I asked if people wanted me to split my long chapters into two and some reviewer told me to do so. So here is chapter 3 PT2. I decided that if a chapter exceeds 10,000 words from now on, I will divide it into pt1 and 2. And erburnham02 helped beta my story, she has amazing english and I would like to thank her greatly for beta-ing my story.**


	5. Chapter 4: Getting Started

**Author's Note: PLEASE REVIEW IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME**

The next morning, I was awaken as I felt the sun streaming in through the windows, somebody forgot to close the curtains last night so I woke up feeling the sun shining in my face as I squinted my eyes, hiding underneath my blanket trying to stop the burning sensation in my eyes.

But I couldn't stand the radiance of the sun gleaming into my eyes like laser lights. So I leaped out of bed. Splashing my face with the icy cold invigorating refreshing water running from the tap as I felt so much more alive and awaken.

Wendy was wide awake sitting on one of the stools in the bathroom concentrating on creating a smokey eye with black eyeshadow. It was suppose to be blended out seamlessly yet it looked unblended and chunky. She even put the eyeshadow up until her brow bone area and it made her look like a gothic emo with tan skin and barbie pink lipstick.

I tried containing my laughter by pinching the bridge of my nose, but it sputtered out helplessly. "What do you want? I've cleared out all of my stuff in favor of your will and yet we still can't simply call it a truce. I'm sick of arguing and having to fight with you." Wendy said. She clearly didn't mean it, she just realized that she was wrong and didn't wanna humiliate herself even more. I still remembered what she said earlier last night, about her infatuating crush on Al. If Al was who we were fighting for, I wouldn't mind fighting, in fact, it was rather enjoyable hearing her screech and whine like a baby cat, except not as lovable or barely as captivating as any cat of course.

It was early in the morning and I didn't feel like arguing with her or waking up any of my dorm mates so I just ignored her.

For breakfast, we were served french toast and assorted fruit. I was very early resulting in a peaceful and quiet breakfast with only a few students surrounding me. But soon enough, everyone came down for breakfast including Rose and Al who settled down next to me.

"Good Morning." Al greeted me groggily spreading some kind of jam over his toast.

"Morning Al." I replied cheerfully as I saw Wendy, she was sitting around fixing her makeup, not even bothering to have a mouthful of breakfast. What a waste to miss out on the amazing food they serve here, she'll regret it later. She was glaring at me at the corner of my eye as I automatically felt much more airy and jolly. Also because it was a sunny day, with a bright blue sky and minimal clouds circling the school campus.

"Why... um... aren't you eating?" Al asked quizzically, in a more concerned and slightly disappointed tone, thinking that I was one of those girls who starved themselves to stay fit.

"I ate ten minutes ago, I even ate four pieces of toast. The food here is awesome!" I answered truthfully, showing him my empty plate with a few remaining crumbs and some maple syrup left on my plate. I swear, if I was at home, I would've licked the remaining syrup left on my plate because it was so delicious.

He flashed me a smile, biting on a strawberry which was my favorite. I tried finding a strawberry from the fruit assortment. There were blueberries, which I found bitter and sour at the same time and that didn't appeal to me at all, and some sliced pineapple, oranges, kiwis but no sign of any strawberry.

So I snatched the last strawberry Al was biting on bit by bit and swallowed it down as a whole before he had time to react. His fingers trembled slightly when my fingers touched his as his eyes widened in daze. "Why did you take my strawberry, they're my favorite!" He said almost a minute later.

"They're my favorite too." He looked at me in bemusement. "And I can't find any of them."

"You're forgiven." He took a strawberry that he hid under his toast and popped it into my mouth as he grew crimson. Everything was happening so quickly, I felt my cheeks heat up as we both stared at each other. Why was I blushing? I never blushed, I mean was this even that embarrassing to the point where I needed extra physical traits to describe how I felt, it was practically enhancing and making a big deal out of something so small.

Is feeding me a strawberry considered a flirtatious move? No that is outrageous, I'm sure it wasn't intentional, he was just being considerate, giving me his last strawberry after discovering that they were my favorite. I mean who would flirt with plain old me who didn't believe in love, I looked average and there are tons of prettier girls out there who would treat guys with more respect. Especially Al, he wasn't exactly immensely attractive but he had a fair amount of girls crawling behind him like lost puppies, and Wendy had a major crush on him.

Speaking of Wendy, she grew deep purple in rage and started clenching onto her fork, digging her fingernails into Donna's arm as she tried holding in her pain. If this irritated Wendy, I was going to have to do this more often. I smirked at her as she shot me a murderous look like she wanted to stab me with her fork and make me bleed to death. She expressed her anger by twisting her fork around her toast poking deep holes into her food as she started snarling like a baby lion.

Rose was laughing, probably at Wendy's reaction to what just happened as I laughed along with her, but she stopped laughing immediately as I joined in, or maybe she was laughing at me...

"I would now distribute your timetables." McGonagall declared.

Keira came rushing down to the great hall crashing next to Rose, panting heavily and clutching on to the table trying to stabilize herself. She apparently overslept and was almost late for her first Hogwarts breakfast for her fifth year.

McGonagall started handing out the timetables for the first years. Jake and Natalia were high five-ing grinning from ear to ear, apparently, they had all their classes together.

When McGonagall finally came over to us fifth years, I was debating over getting another toast or not. Al advised me to use strawberry jam, saying that it tasted phenomenal and just because I liked strawberries. I was incredibly full so I told him that I was only willing to eat another piece of toast if we shared it. So he started spreading jam over a new piece of toast and tore it in half, giving the other half to me.

I gobbled it up in a bite and briskly chewed on it, the taste of strawberry surging in my mouth. Although it was jam, the strawberry didn't taste artificial at all, I don't even know how the elves manage to prepare amazing meals that never disappoint my large ravenous appetite every single day.

"Rose, you'll be taking Transfiguration, D.A.D.D., Potions, Herbology, Charms and Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmacy. Those are the subjects that are required for being a professional healer, congratulations! If you survive the NEWT level of these subjects, which no doubt you would, you would succeed. Here's your timetable. And you are also enrolled in History of Magic and Astronomy, though you won't have to complete the NEWT level for these two subjects as you chose your career path as a healer."

"Wow that's a lot of subjects, what's a healer anyway?" I asked, curious.

"That's what the wizarding doctors are called. But you should start by concentrating on learning basic knowledge on the subjects before deciding what you want to be." McGonagall informed.

I remembered all the subjects she told me about the other day at Diagon Alley, but I was still clueless about the details. All I knew was what those subjects were, and that's basically me knowing what 'chemistry' meant, though theres no exact definition for any of those subjects I take back at my old school. Thank god I had good memory, or else I would've struggled ten times worse.

"What about my job in the muggle word?" I asked.

"You'll have to discuss that with your mother."

I normally would've snapped at her but I decided to contain my emotions especially because she was somebody I didn't want to disappoint and I thought that it would be unreasonable of me to get mad at her when she had no responsibility or control over my situation.

"You should join each class along with the Gryffindors and decide which subjects you are most interested in. The minimal amount of subjects that are mandatory to take are five, you can choose an optional subject if you want. Come to find me before the end of the week and you can decide the subjects you want to take. If you do well in those subjects, you'll be promoted to a higher level of education for those subjects you exceed in next year."

I was always taught to be open minded and to attempt different things if I had the chance, but right now, it would be obviously impossible for me to take optional subjects that are completely new to me.

"That's not fair! It's not like I actually want to take Divination or Muggle Studies or even Care of Magical Creatures!" Al interrupted as Rose nudged her for insulting their dear friend Hagrid; whom Malfoy was using to insult Rose with last night, saying that she looked like him.

Rose might have slightly frizzy hair, but it wasn't exactly disgustingly bushy. I mean she might've inherited some bad features from her parents, but nobody is flawless, I mean I have incredibly thin lips that I'm not sure is a blessing or a curse. At least she wasn't as unconfident of herself like poor old Wendy caking ten thousand layers of makeup on her face trying to look perfect.

"At least you get the advantage of starting at first year." I retorted.

"If you truly wanted to become an Auror like your dad." Rose cut in as Al cringed a little when his dad was mentioned. "You'll make an effort to work harder and to achieve your goals!" Rose continued, sounding exactly like Lucy lecturing Louis for being slightly vain, which was a joke obviously, but Lucy took it extremely seriously, just like Rose. I guess their similarities really define the stereotyped characteristics of a Weasley.

Al didn't speak a word, not even bothering to come up with a combat. It was like he was muted.

"You'll be taking Charms, D.A.D.D., Potions, Transfiguration and Herbology, Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures. It is a good idea to have a suitable variety of subjects if you wish to pursue the Auror career track like your father. Here is your timetable." McGonagall handed the square of paper to Al, but seemed like he was deep in thought and wasn't listening to a word she had just said. "Albus." McGonagall called firmly, clearly noticing. Al seemed to have snapped out of his deep pondering as he glanced up towards McGonagall and nodded in a robotic manner.

I had a suspicion that something was wrong, he seemed different from his usual self. He always was reserved and more of a thinker than a speaker but this was completely off. Just a minute ago, he was complaining about having to take lots of subjects and he was engaged in the conversation. Yet now, he looked agitated and worried, like he was completely occupied mentally.

Suddenly, the great hall was congregated by a flock of owls, all battering their wings charging above the four tables in the great hall. They started dropping letters onto us, a few petrified students ducking their heads, including most of the muggle born students that were still unfamiliar to the concept of owls sending their mail, thinking that the owls were attacking them.

Most of the first years were focusing on catching the letters they received, eying their owls with great concentration and trying their best to catch their letters without it falling pass them. They apparently thought that it was a good thing to boast about, the students that were successful at snatching the letter from thin air jumping around in euphoria, boasting about it and making the other first years feel ashamed of themselves. Resulting in a few of them starting a tantrum and bawling like four year olds not getting their fair share of candy.

While the rest of the students including all of the fifth years except for me were completely unaware and use to the situation, thinking that it was habitual and paid no attention to the owls.

I spotted Jake's owl kiwi right above me, dropping a letter and fluttering towards Jake in the opposite direction.

The letter landed on my plate. As I peeled it off my plate, I realized how sticky and how the jam residue ended up on the back of my letter. I guess I should've licked it off. I picked on the letter, getting jam on the tips of my fingers.

I unleashed the mustard yellow ribbon tied around the roll of parchment, revealing a crumpled up parchment with my mum's handwriting scribbled over it.

It said: Dear Chloe,

Hope you're having a great time at Hogwarts! Anything interesting that you would like to tell me? How's your first class? Which subjects are you enjoying the most so far? Leave me a reply.

From your mum.

I thought it was necessary to reply immediately, considering the fact that kiwi was waiting for me. But we bought the owl so I guess I should send her a reply tonight. Kiwi seemed to have gotten the message as she flew towards this place called the Owlery, the habitat of all the owls us students purchased and where students sent their letters off.

Rose and Al were comparing their timetables. They had most of their subjects together, except for muggle studies and arithmancy. I wasn't taking any of the optional subjects, though I shouldn't be saying this before I attempted any of the subjects. But I'm definitely not taking muggle studies because I practically grew up and was born in the muggle world. I was proud of being use to calling my home the 'muggle world' already, a sign that I was getting use to this whole new wizarding encounter that I'm facing.

The school bell rung alarmingly, which was an indication for the commencement of classes. I had double potions first, along with Al and Rose. Wendy was nowhere in presence which was pretty appropriate considering her pinheaded size of what she called a brain. Potions was somewhat like chemistry, mixing in different ingredients and forming better strategies for the potion to turn out more successful. It was similar to those science experiments we use to take in middle school, reading off instructions from textbooks and mixing in different alcohols and alkalis with different metals and such.

Since I was new, I was given a choice to choose my temporary partner to work with for this potions assignment. So I chose Al as Rose was unfortunately paired up with Malfoy's sidekick Adrian Coleman. Rose was whining all lesson long, complaining that I should've chose her so Al would've been the unfortunate one that had to work with Coleman. Though Rose still managed to prosperously create the perfect potion that looked exactly like how it was described in her spell book and earned a couple of praises from our Potions teacher, Professor Stark. She might've had a frosty attitude towards us, but she was surprisingly kind to Rose, only because of her accomplishment. Rose was whining about her doing all the work while Coleman was slacking and picking on lint on his robe.

Meanwhile, I was paired with Al as we carefully prepared this potion called the girding potion. Although I was completely unfamiliar with the basic ingredients and the easiest potions. It was all reading from a textbook and performing as we were told so it was almost a piece of cake. If I started from first year, I swear it could've been my best subject.

Al accumulated all the ingredients that we were instructed to collect while I prepared the cauldron and created a fire to heat up our potion.

Professor Stark wasn't very welcoming of me, saying that I should know much more about the basic knowledge of potions, even though I was entirely new to this. She said I shouldn't come up with excuses and that I should just get to work.

To prove her that I was capable of making a potion that was described in a textbook already, as a reference. I offered to do everything and let Al assist me, he didn't refuse and simply just agreed saying that I should give a shot but try my best not to disappoint Professor Stark on my first day here.

So I threw a set of fairy wings into the cauldron as I waited for it turn turquoise like it was suppose to. To my absolute shock, it turned to the color it was suppose to be, just a dark blue tinge to it than green. I then added a measure of doxy eggs, then the potion turned a light fuchsia, a bit different from the description but close enough considering it was still a shade of pink.

Professor Stark seemed pretty impress by my abilities, knowing that I was actually new here. Though she tried to hide her satisfaction with a scowl as she turned towards Vanessa Channing's potion, yelling at her for slacking and not concentrating on making her potion as it turned a dark shade of violet. I was possibly one step closer to having my potion turn purple, seeing that my potion was a pink with a light tinge of purple in it.

As I was caught off guard, my potion turned a little darker as I completely forgot about the fact that my potion was boiling up. I quickly threw the dragonfly thoraxes into the potion as it ended up looking red with a slight purple tinge. I sighed in relief, at least I didn't fail completely. It turned into a slate blue color.

I followed the instructions on my textbook and ended up with a green colored potion with a tiny bit of purple in it. I still haven't managed to get rid of the purple tinge in the potion though it did get lighter.

"I'm impressed." Professor Stark gave me a genuine smile this time which was completely unexpecting. I actually thought that she would somehow manage to come up with a negative response since she always looked bitter and unapproachable but I guess she had a soft spot like any other human.

Keira stared at me in utter bafflement, her potion was a flaming red color, unlike the description. Maybe, just maybe I should be a potions maker.

Al was startled, as he gave me a thumbs up and said that he was right for letting me make the potion, saying that he borderline fails every time, suddenly looking a bit disappointed.

"Al, I'm sure you'll do fine. Why do you look so depressed?" I considerately asked, genuinely being a bit worried about his frequent minor emotional breakdowns mysteriously when his father was mentioned or whenever he thought he did poorly at something. Was he abusively hit? But then why didn't any of his siblings react the same whenever they mentioned their father? It was probably something else, was he always excluded from his family? Possibly not, from what I've heard, he looked exactly like his father and he was always the center of attention in his family. So why?

"It's nothing." He replied as he returned the ingredients that weren't necessary back to the shelves where they belonged in. Soon enough, he would have to share his thoughts with someone before he breaks down as a person...

Next off we had Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was taught by Professor Todd. He introduced himself and asked us to turn our Defense textbook to page 196, which was about the three unforgivable curses in the wizarding industry.

"Who would like to have the honors of describing each curse?" Professor Todd interrogated as Rose's arm shot all the way up the air, fidgeting impatiently in her seat desperately wanting Professor Todd to pick her. Malfoy snorted in pure revulsion.

"Would you like to do the honors Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Todd asked as Rose glared daggers at Malfoy with the 'thanks a lot!' look.

"We learned this last year!" Malfoy exclaimed smugly, a look that purely showed how importantly he thought of himself. While Channing was drooling in admiration, thinking that he was manly and attractive, envying his 'confidence', in order words, his Russia sized ego. Rose turned her glare towards Channing.

"The three unforgivable's are the Cruciatus curse, Imperius and Killing curse. The cruciatus curse causes excruciating torturing pain to the victim, the imperius curse gives you the ability of mind controlling and the killing curse is simply committing murder in the most fast and painless way possible." Rose answered, sounding extremely annoyed with Malfoy and his trailing admirer Channing.

"Great description, five points to Gryffindor!" Professor Todd looked pleased as Rose responded with a toothy grin. While Malfoy was boiling with rage.

Professor Todd flicked his wand and demonstrated the unforgivable curses on a little insect as some of the girls started screeching dramatically as I just rolled my eyes. Wendy was jumping around in fear, shrieking. I was uncertain if she was scared of the insect or the curse.

When the cruciatus curse was performed, most of the girls buried their faces into their desks in agony, paranoid by the curse itself. While I just sat on my stool staring at the insect cowering up in trepidation, squirming around like it was dying an extremely painful death. I wasn't exactly freaked out by it, I found it fascinating.

"Can the cruciatus curse actually kill?" I asked, as everyone looked at me in surprise as I just responded them with a quizzical look.

"It may scar you for life and put you in insanity if it was casted for a long period of time. And it would kill you mentally." He informed as he started performing the imperius curse on the insect.

The insect looked exhausted and petrified from the cruciatus curse, but with a swish of a wand it rose from it's tiny little crawler feet and started jumping around like how it was instructed to. I honestly felt slightly sympathetic for it, having to obey active body moving commands forcibly right after being tortured. I mean how would I feel if I fell ten feet and nearly lost both of my arms and then having no choice or authority but to run a mile right afterwards without even pausing for air.

And with a zap of lime green light, the insect froze and collapsed to the ground. "And this is the killing curse. And just a sensible reminder, don't perform any of these unforgivables or you'll be arrested and sent to Azkaban for a life sentence." A few of the girls started weeping. Specifically this brunette, she was clutching onto her boyfriend's shoulder, holding onto him dependently and with a firm grip that she would never let go of. While her boyfriend started comforting her and telling her that everything was going to be fine and started feeding her bullshit.

"Now I don't wanna be the teacher that gave homework on the first day back." Everyone knew what our professor meant by that, as we all groaned. "But I'll need you guys to prepare an essay on the three curses and an insight description of the three curses. And how you think you would feel if the curse was casted on you, I'm sure that none of you have ever experienced it but." I saw this kid cringe slightly. "I would like you guys to describe how it might feel judging by how the insect reacted to the three curses." Everyone started grumbling in annoyance, while Rose looked like she just won the lottery. Professor Todd seemed to be pretty aware of the rebuffs coming from us students so he extended the due date to next Monday.

Next lesson was an optional class, it was either ancient runes, divination or care of magical creatures. Al and Rose both had care of magical creatures, and since I had a free period I decided to tag along with them.

We sauntered along into the deep woods, as we stomped along the thick grass making crunchy noises, the long grass gently tickled the ankles of my foot as I heard Wendy screaming behind me. "There's a.. There's a spider on my leg!" She screeched as Rose and I started chuckling.

"Welcom to Care of Magical Creatures!" Hagrid greeted us, and indeed he had the shaggy and bushy thick dark hair Malfoy described as. But Rose's hair was nothing compared to Hagrid's, Malfoy was just mocking her and exaggerating. He also had a beard that covered most of his face, and these eyes that glinted like black beetles. A major observation that I should've mentioned first was how tall he was, he was at least eleven foot and I was around half his height and size, looking like an tiny elf or pixie next to him.

"He's half giant." Al noted. So there's elves that serve people, goblins that make jewelry and operate banks, veelas that simply look beautiful and giants that are gigantic in size.

"Full giants are even bigger?" I interrogated, bewildered. I mean how tall can they possibly be? Twenty foot? Wouldn't they be literally ten times by size? Al nodded at me as I widened my eyes at him.

"Today we will larn bout' thestral." Hagrid's beady jet black eyes glistened under the sun, shining slightly in exhilaration and amusement. "They'r interestin' creatures. They'r a bit dangerous and very rare." He continued. He had a rather loud and blaring voice.

"They're considered VERY dangerous in the Ministry of Magic!" One of the hufflepuffs said, intimidated.

"You'l be fine." Hagrid reassured. "They won' harm you." "There! The thestral. Walk carefully." He tried whispering but ended up sounding like how a normal person talked, the loudness in his voice toned down a little.

We trailed behind him and slowly tiptoed towards the thestral. "I can't see anything!" This Gryffindor Alexis Wilson commented, everyone hushing and asking her to be quiet.

"They're only visible to those who have witnessed death at least once and have fully understood it. They're also in charge of driving the carriages to Hogwarts. " Rose remarked, sounding like she was reading out loud from a book. Hagrid looked slightly downcast, judging by how he looked, this probably brought back lots of memories and he possibly witnessed death in the past.

"Very good, five poin's to Gryffindor!" Hagrid was back to his usual self, not exactly cheery but he didn't seem as blue.

Since we had Care of Magical Creatures with the Hufflepuffs, there was no ridicule coming from Malfoy or his sidekicks. Rose seemed contented but I saw a slight bit of loneliness clouding her typical Weasley ocean blue eyes that were identical to Louis's. Speaking of Louis, I haven't seen him since the sorting ceromony yesterday, I was definitely going to ask him for homework help on D.A.D.D., at least we didn't get any homework for potions. I will also enquire for help on charms and transfiguration since we had those two lessons tomorrow and I still haven't learnt any of the basic skills for those two subjects.

The last subject for today was astronomy, and since it was all about stars, constellations and planets, which were taught in the my previous muggle school, I had basic knowledge on everything that we were taught. We had the lesson at night, so we were free to go back to our dorms or have a snack until nine o'clock.

I tried finding Louis but he had double potions during my free period. So I waited for him outside the Potions classroom in the slimy slightly frightening dungeons. Professor Stark was infuriated, saying that I shouldn't be here and should be in my common room. So I hid in a corner and lingered around the dungeons waiting for Louis.

He was one of the last few people coming out of the classroom, he was held back by Professor Stark to confirm on what he had to do for his upcoming essay he offered to write. Even Professor Stark seemed pretty impressed by Louis's enthusiasm to the subject as they spent a few minutes talking.

I tapped my foot impatiently waiting for him to show up. When he came to me at long last, his first words were. "Professor Stark is a great teacher!" I snorted, she was only generous to students that did well in class, for instance, Rose. She practically hated Keira and all the other kids that couldn't make a decent looking potion. Which I don't blame for, but she can be more encouraging to the kids who were struggling. I wonder how much of a torture it would've been if I messed up entirely.

"She really isn't that bad." He added, giving me a quizzical look.

"To you!" I can't believe how clueless he was, he actually thinks that he gets bad grades and that all teachers treated everyone fairly when it was blankly obvious that Professor Stark was only nice to students who did well, I mean by the looks of it, every teacher adored him! For a Ravenclaw, he was pretty dumb and stubborn.

He raised his almost invisible white blonde brows in puzzlement as I just slammed my hand against my forehead. "Alright, now can you teach me everything that a fifth year should know?" I asked.

"Sure, do you wanna study at the library or at my dorm?" As soon as he realized what he said, he shook his head in embarrassment and laughed. "You know, I'm headboy so I only have to share my dorm with Lucy and there's a huge common room for us to study in so-"

I looked over at the Hogwart's library, it was crammed with people, especially seventh years trying to progress on their unceasing amount of homework given to them on their first day back here. A few students using the self-inking quills from the Weasley shop, writing essays and filling in worksheets, extremely dedicated to get their work done with. While there were a group of students slacking and procrastinating, playing a good game of chess, this stubby petite looking middle aged woman shushing them, an annoyed look plastered on her face as the students responded with sheepish looks and got on with their homework.

"Sure? But don't you have a lot of work to catch up on?" I pointed towards the seventh years who were working on the essay for Potions, trying to be more considerate.

"I completed most of it in class." He replied nonchalantly. "I would be glad to help you with your homework, I use to help Dominique with her homework too, though she's two years older than me." I know his intentions weren't to boast but it seemed like that, though I didn't really mind.

I thanked him as he guided me to his dorm. The entrance was guarded by a statue made out of stone, it had a grey marbleized pattern and it was shaped like a eagle. "Snow." He chanted as the statue shook lightly and it span around and revealed the heads common room. It was massive, I mean it obviously wasn't as big as the Gryffindor common room but the only people who had daily access to it was Louis and Lucy. And it seemed extremely convenient, with a huge private place to be in not having to hear the whiny complaints of spoilt first years and bitchy girls like Wendy babble on and on about having a bad hair day.

Since we weren't making any conversation as I was just observing and ogling at things in his dorm room, Louis broke the silence by saying that he had a cat called snow that was jet black in color, with these unusual white spots that made it look like a dalmatian.

He headed into his room and came back with his fifth year textbooks and Snow hung around his neck. "Awww, she's adorable!" I squeaked and started giggling like how flirtatious girls sounded like when they were trying to lure guys into making out with them, how hypocritical of me. Guess I had a soft spot for adorable animals, specifically cats.

"I just got a ginger cat from Magical Menagerie at Diagon Alley the other day." I smiled, I guess Oceana would be making more than just one friend. Let's just hope that she isn't unfriendly or introverted.

He returned a smile. "Alright let's get back to work." He said in a more serious and stern tone as I started chuckling. I guess there was a hardworking hufflepuff side to him as well, or maybe an ambitious Slytherin side?

"We learned about the unforgivables at D.A.D.D. today, we were required to write an essay on the three curses and how we would feel if we were shot by each one." Louis flinched a bit as I mentioned the unforgivables, were the girls not the only ones that were petrified of the curse? "Potions wasn't a problem and I'm sure I can catch up on it by myself and please teach me the most basic transfiguration and charms spells." For some reason, I saw a bit of fear and regret in his eyes.

"I haven't told anyone this but..." He hesitated a bit, as there was a long pause. "I was shot with a cruciatus curse before..." His voice was barely audible now, I was utterly astonished. And the fact that nobody knew about this other than me made me feel special, especially since he barely opened up to anyone and it has only been roughly twenty four hours since I met him. I honestly don't understand how he was so comfortable with talking to me about these things.

"Who would do such a thing?" I asked, feeling guilty, though I wasn't exactly responsible for what happened to him.

"It was my sister." I gasped in shock. Was it Dominique or Victoire? They seemed like nice people... "No it's not what you think. We were both very young. And..."

"That doesn;t give someone an excuse to use an unforgivable on you!" I cut him off.

"No, it wasn't intentional. She was very mad at my dad for throwing away a blanket of her's that she slept with every night and that was very important to her and she saw some death eater use it in the Second Wizarding War so she thought that it would make my dad mad if she rebelled and did something the Weasley's use to be against. Not knowing that it was illegal and also harmful, she attempted casting the curse on dad but I jumped in and I got shot. It usually wouldn't work if you don't mean it but turns out she was extremely fumed and the curse she shot at me was very powerful... I still have nightmares about it sometimes." I was mentally near tears, I guess the torture curse was named the torture curse for a reason. I gave him a comforting hug just to cheer him up a little, with so much understanding of the curse, writing my essay would probably be a piece of cake.

"I'm very sorry." He was about to say that it wasn't my fault and that I had nothing to worry about but bringing it up would probably leave him with nightmares tonight. He told me that he was over it but I can see that it still scarred him, and it wasn't just temporary, this type of scarring was permanent. It wasn't just a little paper cut, it was a life threatening mark that someone could've gotten from losing a finger, which would leave him with memories of the eventful day haunting him evocatively for the rest of his life.

We remained hugging each other for almost ten minutes. We finally broke the silence as I brought up charms and transfiguration. He started off by teaching me this levitation charm, the enchantment was "Wingardium Leviosa".

I started flicking my wand repetitively "Wingardum Leviosa!" I exclaimed, but nothing happened. I tried twirling my wand around but everything in the room was unmoved and steady.

"It's Wingar'dium' Leviosa, not Wingar'dum'." He corrected me, as he leaned towards my back guiding my hand. His pale long fingers wrapped around the hand I was holding my wand with as he took control of my hand.

"Wingardium Leviosa?" I repeated, as a few sheets of paper started floating around the room.

"That's progress. You have to be more certain in what you're saying." He aimed towards the table in his common room, chanting the enchantment in confidence and demonstrating the charm as the table and it's contents started flying around the room.

Never underestimate the power of magic, especially the most basic spells that were suppose to be taught in first year.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I cried, focusing my magic on a box of candy that was on the table. But then suddenly, Snow came charging towards a little mouse that she spotted which was across the room. My charm, that was successful this time came shooting towards Snow. Snow darted up the air as she started doing cartwheels and flips in the air, I stared at the airborne cat in astonishment as Louis shot the same charm at his cat, thinking that his magic was more overpowering and stronger than mine since I was a beginner, leaving him with control over his cat. But the spell I casted was incredibly strong, which left his charm bouncing back towards us. It then turned towards me as I started floating in the air, my sense of control taken from me as I started swimming in the air, tipsy topsy. Louis quickly lifted the spell as I crashed towards the furry carpet below.

The crash made me lose control of my wand, a petrified Snow who settled down airborne a few minutes ago now swarming around the room, like she was going through an imaginary roller coaster with a hundred feet drop and an uncountable amount of loops. It was like she was walking on air, elevating around. She was cowered up in fear as I dropped the spell as Snow landed on the carpet with a 'bang!' She clutched onto the carpet, her ears sticking up in panic of someone harming her. I charged towards Snow, giving her a big hug, feeling apologetic for what I just did. Though she seemed to have seen me as a threat as she attacked me with her paws, leaving me with a deep cut, which I honestly deserved after tampering with her for nearly ten minutes. I guess Snow was going to detest me for eternity.

Louis looked around his room in absolute shock, as he tried reaching out to stop Snow from leaving me with scratches. He came rushing over asking if I was fine and if I needed to go to Madam Pomfrey's for curing. Snow started glaring at me with her monstrous yellow eyes, like she was jealous that Louis paid more attention to me than her, even when her mental injuries were far worst than mine. Or maybe I was just hallucinating.

"I'm completely fine. I would like to learn another spell before it gets late." I acknowledged as he decided to teach me the door unlocking charm next.

"Say 'Alohamora!'" He instructed as I aimed towards a door and repeated after him. Surprisingly, this charm was much easier to perform, considering the fact that I didn't need to control something after performing the charm, and since the enchantment was one worded and less complicating.

But just when I shot the charm at Lucy's dorm room door, a curious and slightly irritated looking Lucy came blasting out of the door. She was apparently disturbed from her studying by our screams and gasps.

My charm came soaring towards Lucy as she gulped in ominousness. What happened when a lock opening curse landed on a person?

In an blink of an eye, my question was answered, apparently the blouse that she had on came flying off her as it revealed her black sensual looking undergarment that she had on, she crossed her arms in humiliation and threw her blouse back on. Louis snickered evilly in a playful manner, I guess we all never expected Lucy to dress so 'gratifyingly'. I was extremely grateful that she had more clothes on, calculating what would happen if she was only in her underwear and her bra. I also told Louis not to tell anyone about this trick as something inappropriate was definitely gonna happen. For instance, Wendy forcibly stripping down guys to seduce them. I snorted in disgust at the thought.

"Well let's try this spell on an actual door now." Louis tried his best to contain his laughter, gesturing at Lucy who was now glowering at Louis and I as I gave her a sheepish grin.

He then taught me a tickling charm, freezing charm and this 'lumos' spell that acts as a torch. We practiced until supper, resulting Louis getting late for his prefect rounds.

I sat down next to Keira and Al, who were both munching on roast meat. Rose was apparently on prefect duty along with Malfoy, poor Rosie.

"Where were you all afternoon?" Al questioned.

"I was with Louis, he taught me basic spells for charms such as alohamora, wingardium leviosa, lumos." I answered as Al started looking very disappointed, muttering something like "You should've asked for my help instead." under his breath.

"But we were taught those spells in first year! I mean won't you need a little bit of catching up on the things we studied onwards? I'm free after dinner." He asked, it was like he was trying to get me into studying with him, which I was fine with but was confounded by his desperateness.

"Don't we have astronomy?" Keira interrupted as Al gasped in realization. "Right!" He exclaimed.

Depending on what they teach for astronomy, the subject could be very easy for me, since we learnt about the planets, stars in my previous school. I mean isn't 'the sun is the hottest planet on earth' basic knowledge?

Professor Kreuk seemed lenient and very kind, he not only didn't give us any homework, he even offered to personally help any of us who were struggling during weekends or after school hours. A few students including Keira volunteered, something that is extremely unlikely to happen in Professor Stark's class. It also was very nice of him to offer his free time for us.

We looked through telescopes gazing at the starry night sky that were filled with stars. Our task was to identify the stars and name them. Without Rose, our class seemed lacking of participation but with the aid and encouragement of Professor Kreuk, our class managed to work together as a team to come up with all of the answers. I might not be very fascinated by Astronomy as a subject, but it was one of those classes were the teacher actually was the reason why I enjoyed the class.

I was considering the five subjects that I wanted to pursue this year, it included potions, because Professor Stark was pretty impressed with what I came up with, especially since I've never actually made any potion before, or maybe it's just beginner's luck. But I find Potions entertaining and it's very similar to what I've experienced before. Then there's Astronomy, which I'm also pretty familiar with. And Defense Against the Dark Arts seemed like a necessity for learning spells and curses that I can use in emergencies. What if Rose suddenly became evil and started shooting curses at me that I had no knowledge on and I didn't know how to protect myself from it? I couldn't bare showing weakness or I would be known as a defenseless little prat that needs her mummy to change her diapers for her. I still had 2 other subjects to elect, would it be charms, transfiguration, history of magic or herbology?


	6. Chapter 5: Toxic

**Authors Note: Promise there will be more Chloe and Al next chapter. Just a quick disclaimer that is way overdue, I REALLY DOWN OWN HARRY POTTER THE AMAZING JK ROWLING DOES :) Sorry if it took me long to update, I was taking advice and improving my previous chapters**

Charms class finally rolled around. We were taught by Professor Flitwick, who was very short and stocky looking. He was apparently part goblin, which explained why he wasn't as tall as any of us fifth years - even the first years were taller than him, considering he was a lot older and more mature than us. He had been a professor at Hogwarts for at least 30 years.

As I expected, we weren't specifically taught any of the basic spells; we were just given a few minutes to briefly practice them. So I would've been screwed if I hadn't had the practice session with Louis yesterday. Professor Flitwick taught us this disarming charm, called 'Expelliarmus'.

I was partnered up with Rose, which was fortunate enough; I wouldn't want to be paired up with a random bloke. But Rose knew the best strategies and techniques at dueling, and she was extremely talented at all of the spells, including non verbal spells, so she was basically twenty steps ahead of me. She ended up having to just let me use my magic against her without using shield charms on herself, knowing that I was a beginner and I would do her no harm. What she didn't know was that Louis and I practiced dueling in the head's common room yesterday.

With a few practiced attempts, I ended up shooting a relatively strong charm against the room directly at her. Not only did her wand fly up in the air, she went descending backwards bashing into a wall. I scurried over in worry, hoping that she wasn't injured.

She shook her head, looking around dizzily as I tugged her arm to pull her up. "I'm fine..." she said, "but I'll have to use a shield charm next time!"

Then we were taught firing spells, which I found extremely intriguing. Since I was a little child, I've dreamt of fantasies that include shooting fireballs or laser light out of my bare palm, or solid ice that froze people to death. I had pretty much gotten used to the concept of magic, but it was still surreal that all those comic books I read, with people that had magical powers or mutated DNA that caused them to have some kind of special, supernatural power like flying, knives as hands, control of metal, were all real now. It was like I was living a real life dream, thinking that if I closed my eyes I would flash back into my boring old life back at London. I might've wanted to settle down and be boring for the rest of my life, but life with magic was fascinating. Any job in the wizarding world would be spectacular enough for me to enjoy.

One of the reasons why I was so disapproving of the idea of magic at first was the fact that I was just too bewildered and surprised at the time to make a sensible decision. It was also because of the drastic and sudden change, since I hated being spontaneous and I especially hated change. I've always hated when things were out of my reach and not what I expected them to be, and going to a magical boarding school was something I wouldn't have dreamt of in a million years. And I felt like I wasn't ready to meet my father.

I've always aspired to be a patisserie or a chef, so honestly getting a degree at a university wasn't very necessary. Whether I got my education at Hogwarts or at my previous school wouldn't really affect my career as an adult. I had baked cookies and brownies as a seven year old, walking around the neighborhood, offering people my baked goods. Everyone had complimented them and flattered me off my shoes. I thought that maybe I should open a bakery or a tea and cake shop in Diagon Alley that served muggle desserts and sweets, like strawberry tarts, eclairs, macaroons, crème brûlée, etc. The food there might have been amazing, but I really missed the caramel macaroons Kylie and I used to eat at her place.

Later, we had potions class for the second time this week. This time round, I wasn't as lucky, in fact, we even got homework. I was assigned to work with Vanessa Channing, Malfoy's overly attached girlfriend.

The thing that ruined every aspect of Potions was the fact that we had it with the Slytherins. It was all about arguing about who was better and smarter. I hated how they were so competitive over the littlest things. Like who made a potion faster, or who participated more in class or who was more intelligent. Isn't ambitious about achieving things? Since when was it about being arrogant and better than everyone else?

And the fact that Channing was an absolute lunatic, Malfoy-obsessed nutcase frightened me. All lesson long, she was staring dreamily at him. I even saw her desperate attempts at stopping herself from touching his 'smooth luscious blonde hair', at least that's how she describes it as. All she did was stare at him and drool in envy; she didn't even bother helping me with the potion, knowing that it was a partner activity and that I would do everything for her.

I wasn't trying to burst her little bubble of hope and love but honestly, she needed psychological help. Judging by how Malfoy treated her, she didn't stand a chance and if she didn't move on, she was gonna struggle later on in life. What she had was a sense of limerence; it was just physical attraction. I mean, who would truly love somebody with a narcissistic personality like Malfoy? His charisma was what made girls attracted to him, but nobody loved him for being kind, caring, protective or considerate because he didn't carry any of those characteristics that people genuinely looked for in a bloke. He wasn't aware of anything other than himself and his fancy dragon leather shoes or the million dollar tuxedo his mummy got him for his seventeenth birthday.

The depressing thing about love is that 83% of the time, the feeling isn't mutual, so why not just be a feminist that doesn't need anyone other than herself to hold on to? The 'me' three years before would've gladly sympathized with Channing, patting her on the back and advising her to confront her love, but I had transformed as a person. I had different perspectives in thinking compared to previously. I had developed everything.

True love might bring you joy and it can positively change your mood towards everything in life, but is it worth risking so many things when it won't even last forever? And if it doesn't last forever, doesn't it mean that your heart will ache later on when you have to let those memories go? Isn't it easier and more painless just to not involve into anything serious?

Rose was unfortunately paired up with Malfoy, Channing looked incensed at first but when they started arguing, she started grinning victoriously, I guess she just didn't want anyone else occupied and enjoying their time with 'her' Scorpius. There was still this hopeless romantic part of me that still believed that love was a wonderful thing. I snapped out of it with a frown on my face.

"We're supposed to add the powdered moonstones, not the liquified version!" Rose cried, irritated as Malfoy just shot her a look of puzzlement. "The potion is suppose to turn blue, not green!" She pointed out like she was teaching a five year old the alphabet, angry that Malfoy's pin sized brain didn't seem to be able to grasp what she was trying to say. Channing was snickering triumphantly.

"Then you think, you pinheaded Einstein!" Malfoy shot back as the potion suddenly started overflowing with bubbles, causing a huge mess. It was relatively surprising to hear that a wizard like him knew who Einstein was, especially the wizarding king of pure conceit who I thought only had knowledge contained in the autobiography on himself that his two worshipping sidekicks wrote for him.

Professor Stark came rushing over with a displeased look on her face, Rose backing away from the potion and heaving a sigh, a tearful look on her face.

"Who is responsible for this mess?" Professor Stark rose (no pun intended) her voice, vexed. Rose seemed astounded by the Professor's sudden attitude change towards her. Just yesterday, she was all sunshines and rainbows to her, complimenting her, and now she was about to fail her assignment, and get detention. "Detention! Both of you tonight at Eight PM sharp!" She fumed, stalking off, her heels making click clack sounds down the corridor.

The two of them were silent as Rose gave Malfoy a murderous look, I saw the 'how dare you landed me in detention' right in her eyes, she was clenching her hands together in frustration. While Channing was smiling, a disappointed look plastered on her face as soon as she realized that Malfoy and Rose were having the whole night together, alone, painting banners or cleaning something.

Keira shot me a playful smirk. She apparently has this beyond unthinkable idea that Rose and Malfoy secretly liked each other. I nearly vomited out my intestines, I had even willingly bet ten galleons on that, which I didn't even have to begin with! I was just absolutely certain that she was joking and that she would lose the bet.

We then heard a fast paced click clack sound of a pair of higher heels, at first we assumed that Professor Stark was running back into our classroom, but it was Wendy. She wasn't present last lesson, so I thought that she didn't take Potions, but it turned out she was excused last time as she was at Madam Pomfrey's. I groaned, seeing her made me feel queasy at the bottom of my stomach, my insides started churning uncomfortably like those foamy vanilla milkshakes they served at McDonalds.

Just then, Professor Stark returned back with the notebook which she called her 'obedience record list'. She marked down anyone who spoke when she was speaking and who didn't complete their homework. Judging by the fact that was already half way through the notebook, some other students would be keeping Rose and Malfoy company that night. Don't worry Channing, I thought, your dear Scorpius won't be left alone with what Keira calls his secret lover.

Wendy was lucky, she wasn't lectured for being late or even given detention. Sometimes I wondered how that girl wasn't sorted into Slytherin. And how evil villain-like people had sheer luck and managed to avoid every single punishment they deserved. Yet Rose on the other hand, who did nothing but attempt to prove to a boy with a big head that he was wrong; landed in detention, no actual bruising caused to Malfoy's incredibly humongous ego. What was her point anyway? It's not like Malfoy was ever going to change from one hundred percent narcissism to borderline humble and modest.

Professor Stark shot us all a look of suspicion, still not noticing that Wendy had popped out of nowhere. She proceeded with the class, asking us to create this potion called the Draught of Peace; it apparently helped on relieving anxiety and agitation. Something like that would really come in handy when I felt stressed or mentally troubled. I mean, shouldn't it be promoted to pressurized people? Somebody could just sneak it into their beverage and BAM! There could be like a wizarding version of Robin Hood that stole draught of peace potions to give to the 'emotionally distressed'.

"I don't have a partner." Wendy said dumbly, how mindless was she? Our partners were assigned at the start of the lesson, she was basically spilling the beans on herself. If I were her, I would've said nothing and negotiated with someone near me to work as a trio, that way, I would even get rewarded for self problem solving.

"You'll be working with Albus on the potion," Professor Stark directed at Wendy, still completely unaware that she hadn't been there a few minutes ago. I desperately wanted to tattletale on her but I would not be making a particularly good first impression either; so I kept my mouth shut, glaring at Wendy as she smirked at me. Al simply looked shocked, gawping as Wendy sashayed over next to him, placing her arm over his shoulder and leaning on his shoulder.

She purposely started flirting with him, thinking that I would be fumed with her, though Al didn't seem to be responding to her constant hair flipping and eyelash batting. I tried hiding the frustrated expression on my face but I failed miserably. I was never good at concealing how I honestly felt; in fact, it was one of my worst traits. I didn't even understand why I was irritated, I mean Wendy flirting with Al shouldn't concern me. Even though her existence in general annoys me to the moon and back, why did I feel like casting the cruciatus curse on her?

She constantly smirked at me for the entire lesson, it was like she wasn't even paying attention to her own business. In fact, her prissy attention whore little ways managed to keep my attention on her, resulting in me messing up the draught of peace potion. Guess the wizarding robin hood would be running out of potion batch supplies to hand out to people who were struggling with depression.

Channing was busy ogling Malfoy's 'charming' features the entire time, not even noticing that are potion turned a reeking dirty brown color when it was suppose to be silvery white in color.

"I expected so much more from you Chloe! It seems like you didn't even try making your potion look decent, you did so much better yesterday. I'm severely disappointed in you." Professor Stark reprimanded, Channing quickly burying her nail filer into her pockets standing up straight and upright, almost saluting. That fake act most of the Slytherins pulled on the teachers was unbelievably pathetic, and yet every single teacher fell for it, even the most intelligent ones. I guess Channing was sorted into Slytherin for a reason.

"Did someone hit you with a confounding curse?" Wendy muttered, sneering at me as I felt hot boiling rage erupting inside of me, a hot tingling sensation on my skin. The only thing that managed to keep me from exploding in anger were Al's reassuring looks. I just responded with a nod, giving him a weak smile, which seemed to upset and maddened Wendy greatly.

"I'm really sorry Professor, can you allow me to make the potion again? I will pay much more attention this time, please give me another chance." I pleaded, nearly down on my knees, really hoping that I wasn't that much of a big disappointment.

She eyed me with disapproval. "Just this once, I don't want to see you caught off task ever again." She warned as I nodded obediently, something I almost never did.

I went ahead and obtained the appropriate ingredients necessary to create this potion, since my Potions 'partner' Channing didn't seem to be helping me out at all. She was still gawking at Malfoy, her drool all over the table.

I quickly prepared a cauldron and threw in powdered moonstone, the potion quickly turned a lime green color, thanks for the tip, Rose, I thought.

I finally added some porcupine quills into the mix and simmered it, and it ended up a milky white colour. I guessed Robin Hood would find his way after all, hurrah for the 'emotionally distressed'.

Everyone started praising me, even Channing, who finally snapped out of her daydream thanking me for doing 'everything for her'. Apology not accepted. I responded with a 'you dummy' look. Why would I forgive her for being a mindless idiot? Besides, it's not even any of my business that she had been blinded by Cupid's devilish arrow; her sufferings were none of my concern.

Professor Stark forgave me completely and started babbling on and on about how I had lots of potential and that my potion was standard merchandise level. I should've been flattered but I felt an uncomfortable queasy feeling in my gut. But it wasn't just a feeling of embarrassment or self consciousness, I honestly felt sick to the gut. Wendy shot me a couple smug looks smirking so evilly that it was obvious that she was up to something.

I then felt a surge of pain swishing through the little veins surrounding my brain, something similar to a brain freeze. Just to make things worse, I felt sweaty and fatigued as well. An uncomfortable lump crammed in my throat.

I held it back, gulping. Luckily, the giddiness washed away, leaving me feeling less nauseated.

But what could've caused it? I rarely caught influenza or generally got sick, and I ate a perfectly normal breakfast. Was I allergic to the strawberry jam Al recommended? That would be sad, considering how unbelievably delicious it was.

Wendy look pretty displeased, typically because Al had worry written all over his face, he was even twitching, gravely wanting to question about how I felt. But he was all the way back in the classroom while I was at the front, so all we could do was shoot each other glances, since shouting all the way across the room wasn't really a good option.

After I recovered from being lightheaded, Wendy looked stunned and slightly agitated, those looks people gave when their plans didn't work out the way they thought they would. She even started biting her lips, like she was trying to think of some kind of better strategy with that birdbrain of hers. This idea that she was somehow part of the reason why I had suddenly felt a rush of sickness came vaguely to me. But how? I tried to think, but my brain seemed to be malfunctioning that day.

We were dismissed from class as I went to return the potion ingredients that were left over back into the storage cabinet. But then I noticed how a bottle of bubbly purple potion was half gone, I swear it was full this morning when I came to fetch the ingredients for the draught of peace potion.

Curious, I examined the bottle. It had a faded, unclear tag on it that said 'dizziness draught'. The side effects were written as 'fatiguing, lightheadedness and vomiting'.

That was when I heard the door swing open. I saw a sheepish looking Wendy shaking as she saw me in there. She was holding a tiny cup that was empty, a violent purple stain left on the sides. "I... I... I... um..." She started stuttering.

"How the hell did you get this into me?" I shook the potion violently as it started bubbling even more. Wendy looked paranoid, damn, that girl was horrible at hiding her so called amazing and well thought through master plan. Couldn't she at least try to conjure up the flashy smile she managed to shoot every bloke, to flirtatiously tempt them into her degrading little trickeries? Where's the dignity in women these days?

"H.. H.. How did you find out?" She asked, shocked, stuttering helplessly as I slapped my forehead in annoyance. How air-headed can she get?

But why did she try to poison me? What would she get out of that? Satisfaction, I guess.

"Because my IQ is up to the standard level." I sighed in irritation.

"What does IQ actually mean?" she asked stubbornly. I didn't blame her for not knowing since she was a wizard, but she was a Muggle-born for goodness' sake! Where did her eleven years of basic education vanish off to? And if she truly was a Muggle-born, what magical potential did McGonagall see in her anyway? Potential in being a provocative slag that wasn't liked by anyone other than herself and some mind-sick, perverted, sex craving blokes? If that was the case, I saw potential standing right there! She had achieved so much from it!

Knowing that explaining this would be pointless and time-consuming, I stormed out of the room; slamming the door behind me and locking it so I wouldn't have to deal with her crap for at least another hour. She deserved her punishment, right? She started screaming my name, begging me to let her out, but I just ignored her.

I heard a faint "I was suppose to use the anti-beauty potion on you! My plan backfired okay? Please let me out!" Wendy banged on the door repeatedly as I beamed in satisfaction. I really didn't need to get uglier than I already was, but thanks for the offer Wendy. And how would that make me feel any better? Let alone consider letting you out?

Out of curiosity, I replied. "And why would you that?" Leaning onto the door.

"Because Al-" She stopped. What did Al have to do with any of this, I thought. "I won't tell you if you don't let me out." She demanded.

"You wish." I shot back, storming away in pride. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't a mindless bloke that she successfully managed to manipulate. I wasn't going to fall for her sugar coated little traps that easily.

Al was wandering along the corridor calling my name trying to find me. I slowly tiptoed towards his figure peeking up next to him and yelling "boo!" right into his ears. He jumped up in fright as I chuckled.

"Where were you? I was looking everywhere for you! We've got to get to Transfiguration in ten minutes." He reminded, still astounded by me suddenly popping out of nowhere.

"Had a horrible encounter with Wendy Sampson at the potions storage cabinet." I answered.

"Wendy Sampson as in the girl that is always tagging behind me for some reason?" He said cluelessly. Apparently knows nothing about the infatuated crush Wendy has on him. I bet he would be scared out of his life after hearing what she says about him in her dreams.

"What do you honestly think of her?" I asked, a little bit of desperation and curiosity in my tone. I tried masking it but like I've said previously, I was an open book and even Rose who was way down the corridor saw the expression visible on my face.

But before Al could've responded, Rose came sprinting towards us tapping us both on the shoulder and greeting us with a warm and energetic "Hey!". At least somebody was in a good mood.

Al and I both stared at each other then at Rose. Contrasting from Rose, our expressions were emotionless and flat. "Hey." We said monotonously, the energy in our voices completely drained.

We were silent for the rest of the time walking towards the Transfiguration classroom. The path felt long and never ending, like it would start snowing by the time we got there. I heard the tugging of Al's shoes against the wooden floor, it was quite distracting. In fact, the whole situation was pretty awkward too.

He rose his eyebrows at me crinkling his forehead, guess I wasn't the only one suspicious on Rose's sudden jovial mood change, I just shrugged at him and proceeded.

Note to self, I'm hopelessly dreadful at Transfiguration. I tried transfigurating a spider into a rat, I ended up with a rat that had six crawlers and these spiky antennas. Al was tremendous at Transfiguration, he might've had mediocre grades for Potions and Charms but he can practically transfigure anything with a flick of a wand. There was a light flush of pink dashed across his cheeks from all the praise and compliments he got, Wendy was giggling coquettishly for the entire lesson; she thought that Al looked 'cute' with the slight pink tinge that 'complimented his skin tone'. I faked a cough trying to hold in my laughter, clearing my throat constantly and nearly choking, my eyes getting teary and bloodshot as Al shot me a look of concern. I responded with a smile and continued to attempt to perfectly transfigure the spider. If Louis didn't teach me any of the basic Transfiguration spells, I would've suffered even more painfully. How did Al manage to do so well? Let alone actually enjoy this?

And apparently, we don't learn how to apparate until seventh year. So much for 'I won't have to ride any kind of transportation for the rest of my life'. And judging by my horrible Transfiguration skills, I'd probably end up with a missing arm or a missing nose, pretty disturbing if you ask me. But, let's rely on Madam Pomfrey to fix everything for us!

We had a free lesson afterwards so I scrambled through my pockets trying to find the letter mum wrote me this morning. I headed towards the Owlery, writing down my experience here so far, not mentioning my horrible roommate Wendy of course. I also reassured mum that Jake was doing fine and that he was making new friends.

I wandered over to where the owls were, locating Kiwi's empty cage. Suddenly, Kiwi flew in through the windows with full speed, a rolled up parchment clasped in her beak. The curtain was waving freely in the autumn wind, a potted plant placed on the window sill nearly knocked over by Kiwi's unstable flying.

Kylie wrote me a letter too. It said:

"Hello Chloe. I miss you so, so much. I tried texting you a million times but you never responded! So I went over to your house, and your mum told me that there was no reception there and she advised me to send you a letter through owl post. I'm very unfamiliar with this method of interacting/communicating with you, I'm trying my best.

Let me just start off by telling you that things here at Bedford Academy have been terrible since you've left. You'll never guess who my homeroom teacher this year is, Mrs. Cunningham! Bedford Academy's most hated, monstrous teacher ever! I got a week worth of detention for using my laptop as a dictionary to search for the definition of a word. And Mike cheated on me with that slut Lauren, I can't believe him! I never would've guessed that he'd use me like that, kissing that little whore right in front of me. How did she even manage to manipulate him? I desperately need someone to talk to; Tina is busy trying to get David's attention. Why is everyone so boy-crazy? Including myself, God help me!"

She ranted on and on about how awful school was for. I felt kind of guilty, considering the fact that it was her first year at school without me. And because we were best friends since primary school, I didn't give her that many opportunities to make a wider circle of friends... since, well, she was occupied with me most of her time.

It was also very strange how she suddenly got so downbeat and negative, she use to be the one who was all cheery and fun. Yet now, she was dwelling on stupid things like boys and school, she didn't even ask me about how my school life here was. It was so out of nature to talk like this, I suspected that either something was up, or I got a letter from another Kylie somewhere in the world.

I scribbled down words of comfort, telling her to dump that prat and stick her middle finger right up in the air for him to see; preferably telling him to go and boil his head with the sassiest, most mocking voice she could manage. I also told her about the resemblance of Wendy to Lauren. Lauren was the Bedford Academy version of Wendy, attention seeking, fake, and scared of not being able to impress people or being adored by everyone. The same irritating prissy voice and the 'slouching, mouth opening (seriously, a bee's gonna fly in there one day) glare at everyone they thought they were superior to' habit they both had. I could have sworn they were long lost sisters.

After free period was over, Al went for Muggle Studies while Rose went for Arithmancy. Since I had another free period, I decided to stick along with Al just for the sake of discovering what they were taught here about us 'Muggles'. Arithmancy was pretty much a wizarding version of mathematics. I loathed maths with all my heart and didn't need any reminding of that torturing subject; so I guessed Muggle Studies was the better option. Have fun with Malfoy at Arithmancy, Rose, I thought. Malfoy would definitely keep you company.

For some odd reason, Malfoy was in almost every single one of Rose's classes. Keira said that it was fate and that it was their way of expressing forbidden love, but I just snorted at heror laughed hysterically at her lame joke. Snap out of the 'I'm serious' phase, Keira, please.

Professor Hamilton who taught us Muggle Studies had luscious hair that was almost the same fiery red shade Rose's was. But Rose had tangled, bushy, thick and dry ginger hair, while Professor Hamilton's was a smooth moisturized wave of ruby red that cascaded down her back like a waterfall. She looked barely twenty years old, with youthful porcelain skin, and a dash of coral blush swept across her cheeks.

A few of the blokes including Adrian Coleman stared at her dreamily, containing themselves from caressing her gorgeous tangle free flaming locks. I swear that bloke had a thing for redheads; he had a track record of dating at least five scarlet haired beauties, including Tatiana Summers, Catherine McKinnon and the rest of the Hogwarts redhead population. I would willingly bet five galleons that Rose was his next target... honestly, I thought that they would look outstanding as a pair and it wouldn't have come as a shock to me even if they started dating. He might have been a sidekick to Malfoy, but he was relatively independent enough to make his own decisions.

Professor Hamilton came handing out worksheets for us to fill in. They were something Year Ones back in my old school were taught, like telephones, television, microwaves and so on. I was now aware of the fact that I hadn't stumbled upon any of those objects at Hogwarts. But with magic, I guessed none of those muggle inventions I had used for the first fifteen years of my life were actually necessary. I mean you can easily get access to a wand for casting a charm that could do all the cleaning for you, which destroys the whole point of buying cleaning equipment, because with a swish of a wand, everything will be spick and span.

Professor Hamilton tripped onto the ground with a flop, the worksheets wrapped around her arm flying everywhere, her bum sticking up slightly.

While Coleman and some of the blokes were whooping and whistling smugly, the girls just rolled their eyes at them. Catherine McKinnon, one of the redheads I mentioned earlier, nudged her boyfriend to stop him from ogling at Professor Hamilton's hourglass figure, muttering under her breath and calling Professor Hamilton a promiscuous skunk.

I bended down trying to accumulate a few of the worksheets and to help Professor Hamilton up when my phone negligently fell out of my robe pocket.

Everyone stared at me, stunned. I widened my eyes in shock. My phone was going to get confiscated; the worst thing was that I wasn't even using it. It's not like there's any reception here. But sometimes, muggle music is great to listen to. And I swear, Ariana Grande's voice was tuned by gods.

"Perfect!" Professor Hamilton collected my phone before I could even lay a finger on it. At first, I thought she was being sarcastic. But then she examined it and started exhibiting it to the whole class. I was bewildered by how she reacted, considering the fact that someone like Mrs. Cunningham would've gladly confiscated my phone and never returned it. Professor Hamilton started teaching our class that my phone was what they called a mobile phone in the muggle word, playing with the keys and buttons.

Al had a look of fascination on his face, asking me if I could show it to him later. I nodded and handed my phone over to him once Professor Hamilton was done demonstrating it. Which I doubt most of the blokes were even listening to anyway - they were busy admiring her looks, while the girls were busy scowling at her because of how attractive she was. Al and I were pretty much the only ones who had their attention on what Professor Hamilton was actually saying.

Since muggle studies didn't actually give me an opportunity to learn anything new, and because it was an optional class anyway, I decided not to take it.

On Friday, I headed over to Professor McGonagall's office to consult her on choosing my subjects.

I decided to take Charms, D.A.D.D., Astronomy, History of Magic and Potions but I ditched Transfiguration because I was absolutely dreadful at it - though I did feel guilty about telling her that I was uninterested in the subject she taught.

At some point during the week, we had History of Magic and Herbology. Herbology was all about magical plants. I found it pretty boring so I chose History of Magic over it. Professor Binns spoke tediously and in a dull tone, even Rose almost fell asleep during class, but the wizarding war he babbled on about caught my attention and I figured it was more interesting than Herbology.

After a long day of stress and exhaustion, all I wanted to do was to jump right in bed without even showering. Something I really didn't want to deal with was Wendy's frequent rants on whatever makeup product or clothing of hers going missing and actually having the nerve to blame it on me.

But the first thing I encountered this time was a fuming Wendy storming around the room. Donna was trying to calm her down. "Your filthy cat threw up on my Victoria's Secret lingerie!" She screamed, sounding completely traumatized as I snorted in amusement. Her pink lace lingerie that she wore underneath her miniskirt and barely buttoned blouse? Guess she would suffer from lack of customers on her fille de joie business until she bought another one. You did a phenomenal job Oceana, I thought, I was barely as intellectual when I was only three months old.

Oceana was cowering inside my blanket in fear; she had apparently gotten hit by Wendy with her nail file. Not like a nail file was an actual weapon that would cause any major damage but Oceana was barely four months old, he shouldn't have to experience this.

She guided me towards the bathroom, her heels making clacking noises. I mean for god's sake, take them off when you're in the dormitory, I thought. Who did she want to impress? My cat?

Her lingerie was sitting in the sink. There was cat food residue stained on it. She tried scrubbing it with this mild oil based makeup remover but the stain just grew bigger. I heaved a sigh, was she daft?

"Use bloody soap and water!" I exclaimed, exasperated, one step closer to throwing my cat at her.

"Shut up! You're gonna have to pay for this, it cost twenty pounds!" she screeched. Who paid twenty pounds for a stupid piece of lace anyway? It's not like a tiny piece of fabric would actually bring her more customers, or maybe it does in the hooker industry.

"But you beat my cat! You know I can charge you with animal abuse!" I threatened as she gasped in shock. If she didn't have the IQ of a dragonfly, she could've figured out that a nail file couldn't do any actual harm to my cat. But because she was a little dummy, which I was taking advantage of, she huffed in dissatisfaction and left the room.

"And also, I can report to Professor Stark that you infected me with the dizzying potion which was the one that went missing. She is currently on the hunt trying to find the thief." I called after her.

When I thought that the matter was resolved I decided to finally have the slumber that I was waiting for since six AM this morning. I darted into bed and hugged little Oceana, fiddling with his fur. But as I was about to drift off to dreamland, Keira approached me with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry, I fed your cat and Rose's cat a chocola-" She was about to say as I interrupted, gasping in shock, the exhaustion slowly draining from me as I didn't feel sleepy anymore. Great, now I was going to have a hard time sleeping.

"You did what?" I asked, trying to process what she said to me, I thought that pets were prohibited to eat any kind of chocolate because it gave them some kind of illness, or maybe it was some kind of old myth.

"Hear me out; I fed them a chocolate danish, not chocolate." Keira hesitated. "I didn't give her actual chocolate but.." Keira shot me a look of worry.

"Wait, what do you mean by them?" I crinkled my forehead in puzzlement.

"Rosie's cat, Crookie and your Oceana." Keira answered. Does this mean that Rose's cat might've been the one who vomited all over Wendy's treasured frilly lace panties? I glimpsed at Rose's siamese cat, her long melancholy face was grey with fatigue. I ambled towards the sick cat, her ears were boiling hot and her nose were as dry as bone. I wasn't good at taking care of anything, but her symptoms showed how depressed and nauseated she was; while Oceana was jumping around in alacrity from bed to bed.

Clearly, it wasn't Oceana that caused the mess, so I went ahead and confronted Wendy.

"What do you want?" Wendy demanded, tucked in bed as she took off her eye patch and shot me an acidic glare.

"You were wrong Wendy, it was Rose's cat, not Oceana." I stated.

"Who's Oceana anyway?" She asked, gaping at me. I wondered how she managed to be belligerent yet so clueless. She made me want to use an unforgivable on her, even after knowing that I would be serving a life sentence at Azkaban.

"MY CAT!" I exclaimed, frustrated.

"Oh. Why are you telling me this?" She continued to ask, still completely clueless on what I was about to say to her. I growled in vexation, how does she manage to irritate me so much?

"Firstly, you owe me (and my cat, actually), an apology for animal abuse and stealing-" I started as she interrupted me rudely. "But she threw up on my lingerie!" She shrieked.

"Which still doesn't give you the right to violate a law and he didn't intentionally do that." She glowered at me. "And it wasn't even my cat that did all this! This is all a misunderstanding." I added.

"What do you mean?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"It was Rose's cat, and we need to take her to Madam Pomfrey's."

"That would be great, at least we'll have one nasty beast out of the house!" She barked as I breathed in and out heavily, trying to calm down. If I was a Hungarian Horntail, there would've been fire spitting out of my mouth by now. And watching Wendy burn to death is on my bucket list.

"Isn't it hypocritical of you to call a cat nasty? The amount of makeup you cake on your face everyday is way nastier than any cat that climbed out of the dumpster?" I couldn't contain my rage, everything I was holding back earlier came spluttering out of my mouth like searing hot fire. I was one step closer from punching her until I heard a timid meow coming from Crookie.

Crookie looked like she was barely conscious! We had to hurry up and do something! But Wendy was so cruel and cold hearted, she was actually smirking, like she was glad that Rose's cat was having a near death experience.

While Keira was running around the room in fear. "What have I done? Is she going to be okay? I shouldn't've fed her the chocolate..." She was shaking slightly, panicking and holding onto my hand for comfort.

"She'll be alright." I patted her on the back. "We're going to take her to Madam Pomfrey's okay?" I patted her on the back consolingly as she nodded and pulled Crookie into her arms.


	7. Chapter 6 (part1): Crookie

**Author's Note: The bad news is that I'm not on summer vacation anymore and it will take me longer to update. I'm officially a freshmen! Just in case you were wondering, I imagine Chloe to have Raina Hein's (from america's next top model, i love that show, who's your favorite from cycle 21? Mine is lenox or shei) hair (a bit more flawed) and eyes, but she's MUCH MORE flawed than Raina because Raina's literally the perfect, flawless girl, and Chloe is pretty flawed if you ask me. She has a gap tooth (like me in real life, well I don't have a gap but the shape of my teeth is really irregular and sharp, my friends call me a vampire in disguise haha), she has thin lips (like me as well, i personally like making my characters more personal and resembling me a bit) and most of all, she doesn't have the perfect, ideal life. And here's another long chapter so I'm dividing it into two sections. Remember how promised for more al/chloe this chapter? that would be in part two, im sorry :(**

Last night was pretty eventful. I ended up not getting the amount of sleep I was hoping for. While Rose was off for prefect duty, Keira and I spent all night in the hospital wing waiting for news on Rose's cat.

Keira was worried sick; she even started crying at one point, clutching onto Crookie's paw and sobbing. Her voice muffled as she took long pauses and started breathing at a fast and uneven pace. She started rattling on about how Rose brought Crookie with her since first year and how Crookie was like family to her, saying that she took care of her whenever Rose was off on rounds and that she was actually Crookie junior because Rose's mum was the one who came up with the name for her first kitten that passed before Rose was even born. And also how Wendy despised Crookie since day one, bullying and threatening to kick her out of their dormitory, and she guessed she got her wish granted.

As soon as Rose was alerted of the news, she came rushing in anxiety, stroking Crookie's cream-colored fur and fiddling with her ears, murmuring something into them as Crookie opened her eyes slightly and stared at Rose.

"Your cat is suffering from stress and isolation, are you paying her the attention you, as an owner are suppose to provide?" Madam Pomfrey directed at Rose as Rose avoided her gaze and stared down at the floor, like she was ashamed.

"I'm really sorry, I fed her a chocolate danish." Keira sniveled, scrunching her face up, her eyes pink and blotchy from crying.

"It's okay dear, the main cause isn't what you fed her, she was ill before that." Madam Pomfrey assured. Keira stopped shedding unnecessary tears and soon her breathing was back to it's slow and usual pace. I was about to cry along with her but I slapped myself mentally for being such a weak loser. I personally abhorred crying, I thought it was stupid and impractical, it wasn't like any problems were going to be solved, and it's a way of showing weakness; I also absolutely hated it when people saw me as vulnerable or fragile. So I put up this armor that showed bravery and confidence, I always try my best to seem strong and have that 'you can't mess with me' vibe going on. But there was still a bit of that sensitive and insecure part of me seeping through all the courage and confidence. I wiped off the tear with the sleeve of my robe before anyone saw.

"Did any major event occur to sadden or stress your cat out?" Madam Pomfrey inquired, as none of us responded, Keira was still attempting to calm herself down while Rose was deep in thought, possibly feeling guilty and irresponsible for not paying her cat enough attention.

"Perhaps an interaction with another cat species? Are there any other cats living in the same dorm?" Madam Pomfrey questioned as everyone fixed their gaze on me.

"Um... I own a cat but he's only three months old and..." Just when I thought that it was a great opportunity for Oceana to bond with his new 'cat' friends, it turned out he was causing Rose's cat stress and anxiety. I guess some relationships are just not meant to work out. I mean, even if my mum forced me into a room with Wendy for twenty four hours, we would still come out of the room despising each other.

"It's best if you separate them for a while." Madam Pomfrey advised, if Wendy had been there instead of having her 'beauty sleep', she would've been overjoyed to hear that Oceana was moving out. But where was Oceana gonna live from then on? In the dumpster along with rodents and cockroaches? I surely hoped not.

"But that couldn't be possible, do you really think that my cat is causing all this?" I fretted.

"Of course not, dear. You just have to understand that it will be easier for Crookie to recover without another cat around." She reassured. But I still felt uncertain and worried; where was Oceana going to go?

Madam Pomfrey's attention suddenly turned to a familiar looking bloke standing at the entrance of the hospital wing. His face was covered in bruises, and splattered with blood. He limped forward as Rose gasped in shock; it was Malfoy.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey examined Malfoy's face with a look of concern. Rose was stunned, ogling at him with her mouth hanging open. But Malfoy avoided her gaze and because he didn't have anyone else to stare into, he turned to me instead; I just stared at him awkwardly, his silver grey eyes boring deep into mine.

"I left for a strenuous journey into the forbidden forest to slay hippogriffs." He was back to his smug self, flipping his hair haughtily as Rose's look turned from shock to irritation. They were back to their usual quarreling selves. "See this cut right here?" He pointed to a deep and cavernous cut on his left cheek, Rose pretended to ignore him, huffing and looking into another direction. "Dense hippogriff left it as his living memory, since I slaughtered him." He shot Rose a smirk as she twirled around and sat on the bed her cat was occupying, caressing her soft fur. Her cat had been given some healing potions from Magical Menagerie that were brewed specifically for cats. "Wait a second, why are all of you guys even here?" Malfoy asked, while Madam Pomfrey patted his cheeks gently with a cotton piece, applying some healing cream and a paste from the Weasley shop that was made for removing bruises. I had to hope that it was a joke product that maximized his bruises to triple the amount; I'm relying on Rose's uncle George!

Before Rose could've came up with a witty, sarcastic combat, Keira responded. "Her cat is sick!" Rose slapped her forehead despondently, knowing what was coming.

"Your loony Crookie cat, Weasley?" He snorted as Rose heaved the hundredth sigh that today. "I wouldn't mind murdering her in her sleep since I'm spending the night here too." He said playfully as Rose rolled his eyes at him, taking his joke way too seriously. "I have to stay right?" He muttered to Madam Pomfrey as she nodded.

"Dear, you've got nine bruises and one massive cut on your face. You also sprained your ankle, Scorpius." Madam Pomfrey said over protectively, holding onto his shoulders with a strong grip.

"I sprained my ankle?" He faked a quizzical look. "It doesn't even hurt." He remarked as Rose crossed her arms, incensed. I heard her mutter under her breath, something like "stop being so full of yourself." or "you try to sound manly but you just sound like a whiny little faggot." Keira and I chortled as Malfoy shot us a puzzled look; he must have had bad hearing.

"Yes." Madam Pomfrey replied, simply. "Now lie on this bed and get some rest." She gestured to a bed next to Crookie's as he followed her instructions and tucked himself in. Madam Pomfrey spoon fed him some kind of bone regrowing potion, he fidgeted uncomfortably as he had no choice but to let her feed him like he was a little baby. He grudgingly lay there, noticing that Rose was laughing at him.

Suddenly, Rose's boyfriend, Nathaniel Edgecombe, came hobbling in with a black eye. Malfoy glowered at him, a threatening look on his face as Nathaniel responded with a more intense glare.

"Did you two get involved in a fist fight?" Keira suggested, her right brow rising in suspicion.

"No." They both denied a bit too quickly, which resulted in more suspicion. Rose's eyes were clouded with surprise and horror, she possibly knew something and I was going to get it out of her later on.

"Dear, how did you get that bruise on your eye?" Madam Pomfrey asked, agitated. As Nathan shot Malfoy another one of his poisonous scowls; it was very out of character of him to be so enraged. Normally, Nathan was all jocularity and radiant, flashing everyone a million dollar smile. "Let me check you up." Madam Pomfrey inspected the bruise on his eye and fed him a healing potion.

"You may go and have your sleep, Oceana will be spending the night here at the hospital wing." Madam Pomfrey directed at Keira and me. We nodded and left the hospital wing. However, Rose chose to stay at the hospital wing to make up for the time she went off to hang out with her boyfriend and left Crookie all by herself without anyone to play with.

With all the sleepiness drained from me, and because it was already one in the morning, I decided that staying a little longer to eavesdrop on Rose's conversation with the two blokes that probably got into an aggressive brawl with each other would do no harm to my sleeping schedule.

Keira normally would've offered to stay along with Rose, but her eyelids were barely open the whole time we were here at the hospital wing. She was exhausted. So she returned to our dorms without even noticing that I wasn't trailing behind her.

I rummaged through my pockets trying to find the pair of extendable ears I bought from the Weasley shop the other day, the appreciable thing about it was that they were reusable and not that expensive either. Unfortunately, my pair of extendable ears were in my robe pocket, and since I was wearing my snug pajama set, 'plan A: cunningly eavesdrop on their conversation' didn't really work out. Plan B was to try my best to listen to their conversation the hard way, creeping behind the door in order not to divulge my existence to Rose.

"He started it!" I heard Malfoy and Nathan say simultaneously, like three year olds pointing at the other kid, accusing them for what they both did. I peeked through the hospital wing door; Rose was crossing her arms, an irritated expression on her face. Nathan was looking really culpable for some reason as Malfoy's mouth twisted into a grimace.

"He punched me out of the blue!" Nathan accused as Malfoy's mouth hung open, he blinked rapidly in disbelief.

"He was ki-" Malfoy started as Rose interrupted. Nathan somehow uneasy, wrapping his arms behind his head and kicking his foot up onto the other.

"Why would you do that? You don't have to express your hatred and anger towards my boyfriend! For bloody's sake, go find another profession other than annoying people!" Rose grumbled as Malfoy shot her a look of astonishment as he shook his head in disbelief. I contained my laughter, hoping that nobody heard my little chuckles.

"I can't believe you, Rose! I was protecting you from that arsehole!" Malfoy shot back as he widened his eyes in terror after realizing that the word 'protect' came plopping out of his mouth. 'Protect?' I thought, this is outrageous! Malfoy hates Rose!

"What do you mean protect?" She flinched a little, Malfoy protecting me? Is that even a phrase? I assumed she thought as even I was stunned, shock. "You punched him in the face!" Rose seemed baffled yet frustrated at the same time.

"He was kissing this random Hufflepuff bloke! Roy Johnson or something, he's a homosexual!" Malfoy bellowed, as Rose stared at him, stunned. Nathan grew tomato red, as he sheepishly glanced around the room powerlessly; like he wanted to escape or apparate out of there immediately.

Madam Pomfrey was usually fractious of people shouting in her territory, but she was busy feeding Crookie some kind of potion to be bothered lecturing the three of them on lowering their voices, so the argument continued.

"It... It.. It was... um.." Nathan was lost in words. "A dare!" He attempted to sound definite and certain but the tone in his voice revealed the fact that it was lie he fabricated at the spot. And unfortunately for him, Rose was brilliant at detecting lies.

"You haven't figured out your sexuality yet? All these months we've been together, it didn't mean anything to you? Where your feelings for me even sincere? " Rose exclaimed and maddened that Nathan haven't discussed this with her. The grief and despair hitting her hard. I saw the misery in her eyes; how she tried hiding the tears forming at the very edge of her tear duct. She blinked rapidly and faced the ceiling, trying to conceal the fact that she was crying.

A triumphant smirk formed on Malfoy's pale thin lips, as Nathan just stared at her sheepishly. "It's not as simple as spelling out the alphabet, Rose." Nathan replied, looking slightly disappointed in himself. He better be! I thought.

Rose was stunned speechless, her mouth opening and shutting frequently; like she was about to say something, but then she decided to stop herself from doing so. She left the room for a moment, storming out with heavy steps as she swiped her cheeks with her fingers, trying to prevent the tears from streaming down her face. I desperately wanted to run in and hug her right at the spot, comforting her and telling her that everything was going to be okay. But an eavesdropper does not reveal their identity, and seeing Nathan's reaction so I could judge if he was genuinely a nice bloke was the whole point of my spying scheme. She might even get crossed at me after realizing that I was listening to their 'private' conversation. Emotions can wait.

"I can't believe I lied for you!" Malfoy muttered once Rose was out of earshot.

"That girl has a temper, if she found out that I cheated on her, she'll go nuts!" Nathan hushed. Those two bastards were outstanding actors, I have to say. But unfortunately for them, reporter Rita Skeeter (or Chloe) was on the case.

"Well you surely deserve getting slapped or something." Malfoy shot him a dirty look.

"Why do you care anyway? Don't you hate Rose?" Nathan raised his brow. Malfoy just responded with another eye roll as Rose came stomping back in, blowing her nose. Her nose turning as red as Rudolph the reindeer's. Malfoy shot her his trademark smirk as Rose ignored him.

I felt someone standing behind me, also eavesdropping on their conversation. It was Channing, the Malfoy obsessed, dimwitted little dummy. She was eying Rose with shock and horror. In fact, she didn't even seem to notice my presence.

"By the way, we're done!" Rose declared in a slightly muffled voice, as Nathan heaved a sigh. Malfoy was smirking wickedly, possibly satisfied that Rose was going to have to deal with a bad breakup. While Channing widened her eyes at Rose, flabbergasted and raged. She had this strange conception that Malfoy secretly liked Rose. Thank god Keira went to bed, or else she would've started babbling on and on about how they were a match made in heaven.

Channing then went scurrying into the hospital wing frantically, exaggerating her panic and worry on Malfoy by plastering a look of distress on her face and hugging him, stroking the cut on his face. "You poor little thing." She said as Malfoy flinched uncomfortably, annoyed. Covering his facial expression with a smug look as he turned to Rose, who was frowning at Channing, while Nathan was staring at Rose in amusement and bewilderment.

"Maybe the breakup was for the good." Nathan tapped the bottom of his chin in a puzzling way, his eyes gleaming. Channing turned her glare to Nathan now, as he just nonchalantly shrugged at her.

"What do you mean good?" Rose fumed, as Channing rolled her eyes, shooting Rose a 'you idiot!' look.

"Ignorance." Nathan commented, as he shook his head. Rose and Malfoy both responded him with a look of puzzlement. Nathan chortled.

As Malfoy decided to go fetch a cup of water that was practically right next to him, Channing raced all across the room just to assist him. Malfoy looked pretty annoyed with her. Honestly, he should appreciate his revering little minions more, they treated him like a king and served everything for him. I would've gladly accepted someone's offer on being my servant; I mean who would decline to that? "Scorpie, are you okay?" Channing asked, concerned as Rose cringed in disgust.

'Scorpie'? Seriously? I thought, as I guffawed uncontrollably realizing two seconds later that I was suppose to be quiet, or Rose would start calling me a privacy disrespecting nosy little bitch on my first week here. I zoomed away swiftly before any of them laid their eyes on me, that was a close shot. I was one step closer to ruining my relatively good reputation as a professional eavesdropper.

I raced towards the end of the corridor as I saw Rose striding out of the hospital wing, looking suspiciously for the intruder. I began to tiptoe, hoping that she wouldn't hear the sound of my footsteps.

It was already two AM in the morning, so I would have to bear four hours of sleep tonight. Or maybe less because sometimes I had a tough time trying to fall asleep and I started to get hyperactive.

Oceana was cuddled inside my blankets as the tiring thought came gushing back to me - I had to figure out a solution for Oceana; where was she going to stay?

A light bulb went off in my head; I had Louis's massive heads' common room as an option for Oceana to bond with Louis's cat. I'd heard from Louis that even Lucy owned a cat. I just had to hope that Oceana wouldn't cause any misfortune or troubles to her fellow cats, or she might win the 'most unapproachable cat award'.

I spent all night long tossing and turning, flipping my pillow around and adjusting my position on the bed. Soon enough, it was seven in the morning. I heaved a sigh, groggily rising from my bed like a dead zombie. It had been an exhausting day and I hadn't even had one minute of sleep.

Since Louis was an early bird, I decided to get the cat problem over with. I placed Oceana into his little cage. He mewed unwillingly, wondering where I was going to take him, or if some kidnapper was coming to take him away from me. "Little fellow, it's okay," I assured, stroking his soft fur - I was really going to miss him.

With the two cats gone, Wendy was sure to be overjoyed, but I guess a quarrel-less week was what I needed. Though that girl seemed to be capable of starting an argument out of literally anything.

I headed towards Louis's common room. And like I predicted, he was sitting on the couch, reading a book. Lucy was sleeping soundly on the couch, inhaling and exhaling small breaths like a little angel; a book was rested on her lap. Louis smiled at her peaceful figure.

I'm not trying to gross anyone out, but Lucy and Louis would've made a good couple if they weren't cousins. They were always together and Lucy was practically his only friend; Louis was really protective of her.

I settled down next to Louis, tapping him on the shoulder. He turned around and greeted me warmly. Louis was one of the only people who managed to act so vivid and look so neat early in the morning.

"I came over wondering if you could help me look after Oceana for the week." I firmly grabbed hold onto Oceana's little waist, pulling him out of his cage and placing him onto Louis's lap.

"Of course. I love cats!" He seemed thrilled, as he caressed Oceana's fur. His smile broadened, like how fathers looked at their children. He would make a good father - whoever he married would be one lucky girl, I thought.

So I explained to him about Crookie's condition, telling him that Madam Pomfrey advised me to take Oceana somewhere else for the time being. Louis was very understanding of the situation; he even offered to keep Oceana for the entire month if I allowed it, which I declined of course, because that would be too much of a hassle for him. He still insisted though, jokingly telling me that I would visit him more if Oceana was under his hands.

I laughed along with him and soon enough, the sun started rising as I saw a bold gleam of light shining behind a hill.

I felt my stomach growl ravenously; without my sleep, I had to keep my energy levels up by eating more. Strawberry-jammed toast, here I come! I thought.

"Well, I'll see you later." I shot Louis another smile. "And again, thank you for everything," I said gratefully.

"My pleasure, Chloe. You don't have to thank me." He returned my smile, guiding me out of the heads' common room, even opening the door for me. I sheepishly thanked him and went down to the great hall for breakfast.

Al was sitting in the middle of the Gryffindor table, eating my ideal breakfast, a piece of French toast with strawberry jam. Wendy caught his eye. Seeing him looking at her direction, she grabbed Ben Felton by the head and practically bashed her face into his. Felton responded passionately as Al stared at them with amusement and disgust in his face - he told me once that he was never a fan of public displays of affection. Wendy must've mistaken it as jealousy as she smirked at me and pulled Felton closer to herself, sucking on his face like a vacuum cleaner. I was disgusted as I patted Al on the back and settled down next to him. He flinched a little, but it was almost unnoticeable so I suspected that I was just imagining things.

Then an idea popped into my head. If I spent the entire weekend with Al riding on a broomstick, wouldn't that infuriate Wendy? The vengeful part of me was sneering evilly yet there was this other part of me that was just intrigued by riding broomsticks, thinking that an amazing Quidditch captain like Al could definitely teach me some tricks and get me into Quidditch. I despised any type of sport, from swimming to running to basketball. But flying on a broom was different; it might get you sweaty and tired like any other event that requires moving around but it seemed fascinating, and it was definitely worth a shot.

"Speaking of broomsticks, can you teach me how to fly Al?" I said loud and clearly, and sure enough, Wendy was back to glaring daggers at me. Rose, for some reason, winked at Al, as he gave her a scathing and hazardous glare warning her to shut up.

"Sure. But didn't you learn in First Yea- oh! I'm sorry; you weren't here, were you?" He gave me a sheepish grin. Wendy's toxic glare grew even more intense as she flipped her hair, continuing to make out with Ben Felton. Rose smacked her hand against her forehead, laughing hysterically along with Lily who gave Lysander a light peck on the cheek as she left the table to head back to her dorm.

Lily and Lysander were the power couple of our third years. The interesting thing was that they were both only thirteen years old. And when I was their age, I craved nothing but chocolate and sweets, not a boyfriend.

"Are you free today?" I asked.

"Sur-" He was interrupted by an infuriated Wendy. "Of course not, he has plans with me." She jumped off from Ben Felton's lap. Ben apparently didn't expect her to jump from bloke to bloke so quickly, which was pretty ignorant of him if you ask me. The pleasant news was that even he was apparently starting to think of her as a little whore - he was frowning at her.

"I do?" Al questioned, as Rose chuckled. Wendy glared at me, leaning onto Al's shoulders as he winced slightly. And Wendy, being the unobservant self-absorbed slag that she was ignored Al's hesitance, resting her Medusa-like head (evil and too much hairspray, causing her hair to stick straight up like a Mohawk) onto Al's shoulder. At one point, she kissed him seductively on his cheek, leaving a red, blotchy kiss mark. Al simply looked surprised.

For some reason, I felt a rush of exasperation. Your wand is in your pocket, I kept telling myself. I wanted so badly to cruciate Wendy to her death.

Wendy simpered, looking pleased with herself. You had no idea how hard I wanted to smack that smug look off her face. She planted another kiss on his cheek as he didn't refuse the first one. I cringed so hard, it sent a shiver down my spine. Two seconds later, I realized that I had reacted impulsively, slapping her right in the face in front of the entire school. She gasped in shock, even Al seemed to be astonished.

Luckily, Al, Ben and Rose were the only other people who witnessed the event. So I didn't get detention, but even if I did, it would've been worth it.

I dragged her into a corner, not wanting to start our brawl while everyone had their attention focused on us. Though Wendy would've gladly killed me in front of the entire school just for the attention.

"Why did you slap me in the face?" She feigned innocence. She was an idiot the majority of the time, but she still managed to manipulate people. I sometimes wondered if her enticing schemes worked on everyone. I mean, was everyone that dumb?

"You slut!" I hissed. I didn't understand why I was tempted to slaughter the living daylights out of her, like why was I so vicious and brutal towards her? Why did I even care? Shouldn't I just try my best to ignore her like how I treated slags at my previous school that were undistinguishable compared to Wendy?

"I fraternize them with my beauty." She flaunted, ignoring my remark, flipping her hair in my face as I inhaled her strong, repugnance floral odor.

I flounced off in a fury. Her existence was an utter revulsion, no matter what she did or said, it got on my nerves. The fact that she was a flirtatious, boy-crazy slag with no self respect angered me. I mean if someone like Keira was flirting with Al like that (which is unlike Keira anyway, to literally push herself onto a bloke) I would know how to contain my irritation without unleashing it uncontrollably like I did to Wendy. I kept on telling myself that I was mad just because it was Wendy, the girl that could win the Nobel Prize for bitchiness. But was it that simple? For some reason, I still felt uncertainty swelling in my gut, like I was imprisoned in a maze of complication; having this instinct that I was wrong but not being able to figure out how.

I returned to the great hall to finish my breakfast. "Are you okay?" Al cautiously flung his arm around my neck, growing a bit stiff and trying to comfort me. I responded with a slight nod, but he didn't seem to be as incognizant as I hoped. "I saved some strawberries for you, would you like to have some?" He offered, beaming at me as he was incapable of actually smirking. I responded with a vague smile as he plopped the strawberry into my mouth.

It wasn't as awkward as the previous 'Al feed me a strawberry' incident. This time, I felt like the chattering and the echoes of laughter drained from the atmosphere; like we were in our own empty, isolated world, laughing and having a good time just with each other's company. I didn't feel as bashful or self conscious, and I didn't see it as a coquettish move of Al's. It seemed natural and enjoying, like we were trapped in our own time frame consisting of fun and leisure.

Rose was grinning at us like she won the lottery, as we both turned to her attentively. She seemed rather contented considering the fact that she was in tears just last night, hearing the news of her boyfriend being 'gay'. I then remembered Malfoy saying something about lying for Nathan...

Speaking of Nathan, he was huddled around in a small corner with a couple of friends playing a good game of chess. Tessa Williams was sprawled all over his lap, her long, ravishing legs dangling above his lap. Her arms were wrapped around his as she gave him a light peck on his cheek. Then I realized, didn't he proclaim to be gay? Malfoy must've caught him cheating on Rose with Tessa, and when Malfoy decided to confront Rose, the devious little git then somehow managed to manipulate Malfoy to lie for him. But since when did Malfoy try so hard to bring justice to the world? Did Superman abduct him and change him as a person?

Rose seemed to not have noticed Nathan hanging around with his new girlfriend, so I told her everything I knew, only leaving out the part where I eavesdropped on their conversation, not wanting to be called a privacy invading bitch. Soon enough, the lively grin Rose had on for the entire morning was swiped off her face, replaced with a scathing, incensed frown.

Rose ran up to Nathan, completely furious, and without forethought, she shot him the strong Bat Boogey Hex that her Aunt Ginny taught her. "You cheating scumbag! I can't believe you lied to me! If you cheated on me, at least confess what you did and apologize to me. Be a man for god's sake, you're such a faggot!" She yelled, as Nathan's eyes clouded with fear and panic. Tessa just rolled her eyes and stood up from Nathan's lap, slowly releasing her legs that were entwined with Nathan's as she walked away. He, being an idiotic Ravenclaw, didn't see it coming. How did he even get into the house? Did he forcibly bribe the hat so he wouldn't be disowned by his family or something? Then I remembered that you're actually given a choice, considering the fact that the hat allowed me to choose Ravenclaw if I really was desperate for it.

Nathan was flabbergasted. Rose was about to give him another slap when he escaped from her and scurried towards Malfoy, his fists clenched in anger and a slight amount of fear remaining from Rose's sassy, mocking break up statement. He pulled on Malfoy's collar and shoved him against the wall as Malfoy responded with a look of bewilderment and resentment. "I told you not to tell her!" Nathan exclaimed, exasperated and almost punching Malfoy in the face.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I didn't tell Rose!" He protested, trying to push Nathan off himself like he was some kind of contagious bacteria. Professor Stark, who was chatting up our Astronomy teacher, came scurrying over. She seemed pretty elated for some reason that day, but the bliss and joy plastered on her face was quickly replaced with her usual aloof and bitter scowl. I guess Professor Kreuk really managed to make everyone happy, even the most cold and icy people. Professor Kreuk looked slightly displeased, probably because the work of art that he had built up over the entire morning was swiped right off Professor Stark's face in a matter of seconds.

"You knew?" Rose screamed, startled and vexed. Professor Stark looked like she was about to say something, but she stopped herself from doing so.

"What do you mean you didn't tell her? How would she have found out then?" Nathan backed away from Malfoy as his brows shot all the way up to his hairline. How could he be such a fool?

"You stupid little git, did you really think that you could get away with cheating on Rose Weasley?" I said, as all eyes turned to me.

"What... What are you talking about?" Nathan stammered, looking confused and slightly threatened.

"Malfoy wasn't the only one who witnessed you kissing Tessa, you foolish little boy!" I lied, not wanting them to discover that I had eavesdropped on their conversation. So I instead opted to declare to the whole school how much of a cheating loser he was; he and Tessa, who was now hiding behind a door, grew as red as a freshly picked cherry from the garden.

Nathan simply looked astonished, he was lost for words. "It was Tessa? That slag!" Rose pronounced as Malfoy looked expressionless, blank and SMIRK-LESS. I normally would've expected Malfoy to tease her for being cheated on, but for once, Malfoy wasn't making fun of her.

"Enough! Never have I ever seen such a fiasco in our great hall. Detention, all of you, eight o'clock tonight at my office!" Professor Stark declared, as Professor Kreuk looked like he was about to burst into tears. What could've caused him to get near tears? I'd never even seen him without a smile on his face.

Rose looked tearful, possibly because someone else landed her in detention again. "Even me?" I asked stupidly, knowing that it was a mistake to ask her a question like that when she was frustrated. I realized that even if I wasn't given detention, she probably would've given it to me now.

"Yes, all four of you," she snapped matter-of-factly. What have I gotten myself into? I thought.

***** i know its a weird way to end a chapter but there will be a pt2 so don't worry :D thought it might take a week :( i've decided to split my chapter into part 1 and 2 if i feel like it would be longer than 10,000 words. hopefully it would only take 5 days for pt2 to be up :) i've asked if my readers preferred a longer chapter or a pt1 and 2 and everyone said pt1 and 2 so here is pt 1.**


	8. Chapter 6 (part2): Doubt and Anxiety

**Author's note: since there will be a big al/chloe moment, i decided to put in some scorose :) btw, don't think of chloe as a marysue because im rushing things, im not, trust me, this is the only chloe/al thing that would even happen, until, i dont know, the end of the story? don't wanna spoil it for you guys, but really, nothing happens. really, they've only met for a week and 'love is stupid', right? ;) review and favorite please :D and the cloud thing is so random, i know, it just came to me.**

Al, who was sitting next to me, looked dumbfounded. "Am I missing out on something?" He inquired, having another slice of his strawberry jam toast, as I cracked him a grin.

"Yup. Nathan and Rose broke up yesterday and well... You know what happens when someone irritates Rosey Posey. By the way, are you still up to be my flying coach today?" I joked friskily.

"Of course." He chuckled at my joke. "I will go get my broom, it's upstairs." He pointed towards the ceiling instead of where his dorm was, his face slowly morphing into a look of embarrassment as he ran up to his dorm to get his broomstick. I giggled at his quirky behavior. Then I thought, Chloe Finnigan never giggled. As I frowned at my odd and disgusting behavior. Giggling mostly sends the wrong message, it makes people think of you as a weak, dependent girly girl, and I absolutely hated that.

After a while, he came sprinting back, panting heavily. "Oh wait, I can summon it with a spell." He slapped his forehead as I started giggling at his quirkiness again. Why was I giggling, did Wendy infect me with a giggling concoction or something? Was it another one of her lame little schemes again? I thought as Al cried. "Accio broom!" More than a hundred brooms came charging towards him. He gasped in shock as I just stared at him flabbergasted. If I knew a reverse spell, I would've casted it to prevent the brooms from attacking him.

Soon enough, a corner of the great hall; which Al was standing in were piled up with a tottering stack of broomsticks. He brushed the broomsticks off himself, his head peeping out of the broomstick pile. I rushed over and swiped off a few of the broomsticks he was tangled in with. Some of the students were summoning their own broomsticks back to their own possessions, as Al slowly became free from the attack of broomstick twigs and it's stiff fibers tickling him.

He quickly combed his hair through with his hands, making his hair look messier than it already was. "Let's go then." He took his broomstick from the pile. It was pretty amusing watching broomsticks fly around the great hall back to their owners in midair without anyone riding on them.

We sauntered along the path without making any conversation. My shoes making clacking noises on the rock pavement. He brought me to the Quidditch pitch, we were surrounded in a circle, empty rows heaped upon the other in a layering order. I was standing on the green grass, ogling at the pitch in amazement, it was as massive as those World Cup stadiums in London.

Al hopped onto his broom, turning back and looking at me. "But I don't have a broom..." I said as he shook his head. I responded with a look of puzzlement as he pulled me closer to him.

"You're riding with me! I won't let you ride on a broomstick all by yourself on your first time! You'll fall off your broomstick and... hurt yourself..." He suddenly started looking really concerned and paranoid.

"Relax Al, I will be careful, okay?" I reassured, putting my legs in between the broomstick and settling down on it. As I placed my hand on Al to stable myself, he shivered a little. I then placed my hands onto the core of the broomstick. I sniffed Al's aroma of fresh cotton and this crisped scent of new laundry. A tinge of freshly mowed grass purifying my nostrils.

He kicked his feet and told me to hold still, soon enough, we were soaring high in the air. It was a magical feeling, the wind blowing in my face and my legs dangling off the broomstick freely. But I felt slightly intimidated, terrified of falling off the broom and hitting a rock or something. So I wrapped my arms around Al's waist for protection as he twitched a little, resulting in us almost crashing into a tree. Although we almost crashed into a tree, I felt a sense of protection with my arms wrapped around Al's waist, it felt warm and toasty. So I leaned my head onto his back as I watched my hair drift along with the wind, like flags being waved when we sung the National Anthem.

He regained his balance, flying with speed and agility, avoiding trees and little obstacles that blocked our path. He gave me a tour around Hogwarts, and I have to say, the view was mesmerizingly exquisite. We were around one thousand feet up in the air, soaring higher than any building I've ever seen or been in. The sky was blue and bright, the sun glowing luminously in a corner. There were a few clouds floating around us. I imagined myself resting on one of the clouds, my arms embraced with the fluffiness and airiness as I laid on the cloud, relaxed and luxuriated, like I was sleeping on the softest most comfortable mattress in the world; while floating in midair, without sinking deep into it.

One thing I've always desired to do before I died was to touch a cloud. And I use to think that it was impossible, but with magic, I suppose everything was possible.

"Can I touch a cloud?" I asked, curious.

"Yes, but you won't feel anything." He answered. And with that, he guided us right through a cloud. "You see, nothing!" He exclaimed, but he was wrong, I did feel the wetness and coolness the cloud left me, like somebody sprinkled a slight amount of icy cold water on me; something similar to a vertical rain that flew towards me instead of onto me, so it wasn't exactly nothing.

"Do you want to try actually touching a cloud instead of flying through it quickly then?" I challenged him as he beamed at me, doing as I told him to do so.

He reached his hand out and swept it through a cloud. "Maybe you're right." He acknowledged.

"Told you." I responded him with a triumphant grin as we started playing by flying through clouds.

One of the clouds were shaped like a lion, it was odd in a way, I had to tilt my head to the left to identify it. And as we flew through it, I gripped onto Al's waist tighter and he tried securing my grip. I leaned closer into him, placing my chin onto his shoulder as he turned his face to mine, his emerald green eyes boring into mine. Our faces were so close to each other, we were only a centimeter apart. He closed his eyes, as I just stared at his face, startled. He looked like he was about to... kiss me.

The weird thing was that I've never been kissed before, I previously decided to either save it for someone very special or die without kissing anyone for the rest of my life. I didn't believe in love, I thought that it was satan's curse. No boys were sincere or genuine, they either use you or don't return your affection for them. For my whole life, I believed that dad was an extensive womanizer that played with my mother like she was some kind of sex accessory or some toy from the dollar store. Even though it was a lie, with my own experience of crushing on this bloke that didn't return the favors, and even with Kylie's boyfriend cheating on her, I believed that the definition of love was misery and heartbreak; the outcome wasn't happiness, it was excruciating pain.

But for some reason, this didn't feel wrong, I didn't feel like pushing Al away or slapping him and shoving him off his broomstick.

Suddenly, he grew as stiff as the hairs on a broomstick. He widened his eyes in shock and lost hold of his broomstick, falling off and clutching onto the rails of his broomstick frantically. I started panicking, I didn't know what was the appropriate thing to do and I didn't even know how to fly properly on a broomstick!

The broomstick started wiggling into different directions, having no control over where we were heading to. The weight of a hanging Al resulting in the broomstick charging diagonally downwards. We were flying at such a fast rate, it was difficult for me to pull Al back onto the broomstick.

He gripped onto the broomstick tightly, his palms sweating from all the agitation and horror, he was nearly petrified. I pulled on his arm but no matter how hard I tried, it didn't work. "You're gonna have to take control of the broom Chloe." Al advised as I stared at him helplessly.

"But.. I don't even know how to ride on a broomstick!" I yelled back.

"Try! That's the best plan we've got." He cried, clutching onto the broomstick with one arm, I continued to stare at him in shock. "Do it Chloe, I know you can do it." He encouraged, panicking and asking me to hurry up. So I held onto the broomstick with both of my hands and charged upwards. Soon enough, we were shooting up like a rocket. "I'm going to fall! Aim the broomstick vertically." He said in urge, hanging from the edge of the broomstick like he was holding onto a balloon. But no matter how hard I tried, we were still soaring higher and higher. That was when a lightbulb went off in my head, what if I used a levitating charm on Al? I scrammed through my robe pocket searching for my wand. The strong wind blowing in my face as I felt like my skin was going to get all wrinkly and peel off any second. "What are you doing?" He questioned, ominous by my actions.

"Wingardum Leviosa!" I shouted, pointing my wand towards Al, but nothing happened.

"Have you gone nuts? Using that on me won't hel-" "Look out!" He warned as I noticed an eagle flying straight towards us.

"Alohamora!" I screamed, forgetting that it was a door unlocking charm, remembering immediately what would happen if the charm was casted on a person.

"Bloody Hell!" Al yelled, as his robe came flying off, whirling around in midair along with the wind. Luckily, he was wearing a shirt and pants underneath, so no harm was caused to my vision. "How did you do that!" He cried, startled.

"There's no time for explainin-" The eagle was only a few meters away from us now "Wingardium Leviosa!" I shot the charm towards the eagle this time, I swung my wand around and the eagle flew in the other direction. "Phew, that was a close one." I heaved a sigh, later aware that Al was almost falling off.

"Maybe Wingardium Leviosa really works." He commented, seeing the eagle fly away at ease. So I shot the same charm at Al, as he sailed around the sky doing cartwheels and flips. "This is fun! I should do this more often." His eyes twinkled in delight and amusement. I levitated him onto the broomstick and he took control over the broomstick again, we were back on track. "We should do this more." He gave me a Chesire Cat grin, like how five year olds smiled when their parents got them new toys.

"No Al, I'm never going on a broomstick ever again! For god's sake you almost fell off your broomstick!" I replied. I found it strange how I was so protective of Al all of the sudden. And how he could be such a nervous wreck sometimes, and as soon as he gets use to things, he gets back to being all fun and quirky; with a warped yet amusing sense of humor.

"Come on Chloe, it was nothing. Let's do this some other time again." He pleaded, pouting and doing an adorable puppy dog face.

I growled in disagreement. "Safety comes first." I sounded so much like my eighty year old over protective, grandmother.

"Don't be such a killjoy!" He whined.

"Then promise that you won't fall off your broomstick like that!"

"I can't guarantee that! Sometimes, my nerves get the most-" He paused mid sentence, a delicate shade of pink flushing his cheeks. For a few seconds, we just sat on the broomstick, my arms still wrapped around Al's waist. He looked like he was deep in pondering, completely occupied and concentrating mentally. "About that... that.. I mean forget... let's forget about that." He stuttered nervously, fiddling with his messy dark hair as it got even messier.

At first, I had no idea what he was all worked up about, with us risking our lives and him almost falling off his broomstick, I completely forgot about the fact that we almost 'kissed', before the whole incident. "Sure." I managed, feeling a bit disappointed for some reason.

The whole broom-ride onwards was extremely awkward and uncomfortable. I had to have my arms around him for my safety but he seemed unease, like he would rather jump off his broomstick than be with me. We made no conversation whatsoever and I felt like he wanted to say something but then he stopped.

The only conversation we really made was our farewells for the day. He just awkwardly waved at me and murmured "bye" under his breath. But one thing I didn't understand was why I was so worked up about this, silence can be a really pleasant and wonderful thing. Sometimes, silence is what I crave. For instance, when Wendy's prissy, annoying voice was contaminating my eardrums; I would've gladly appreciated it if she zipped her gossipy mouth up.

The other thing I could never comprehend was how Al can be lively, humorous and quirky for one minute, then reserved and shy for the other. Maybe he just wasn't the easy puzzle piece that could be solved in a matter of minutes, maybe he wasn't an open book like me, maybe he was the complex puzzle piece that required patience and time to solve.

After supper, I went for detention along with Rose, Nathan and Malfoy. Al and I haven't even spoken ever since the awkward broomstick riding experience we endured. It was actually fun and amazing at one point, but the awkwardness made the entire event painful to even think about.

It was five minutes past eight by the time I arrived, which meant that I was five minutes late. I was also the last one to arrive. Fortunately, Professor Stark was held back by Louis, who was enquiring her on an essay he had to write. Nice job distracting her, Louis, I thought. Or I would've been forced to stay in for another hour.

Rose was glowering at Nathan and Malfoy, while the other two had their arms crossed and face frowning as well. It was like there were in some kind of glaring contest, Rose hated Nathan for the reason of him cheating on her, she then hated Malfoy for the fact that they could never get along. While Malfoy weirdly disliked Nathan for cheating on Rose when he practically hated Rose; when he didn't treat his worshipping girlfriends any better, completely disrespecting their presence and being a narcissistic little git. It was pretty hypocritical of him if you ask me.

"Alright. I need all of you to organize the student files. Please do so in alphabetical order." Professor Stark said specifically, ambling into the room. Her low wedged heels making click clack noises, she gestured towards a big heap of mess, opened envelopes and files stacked messily upon the other. We all groaned. "I will be coming to check on you four every two hours, so don't expect to be dismissed any time before curfew." She announced, her expression stern and sombre. Rose seemed very devastated, saying that she was officially on Professor Stark's bad side and that she would never get an 'O' aka Outstanding for Potions in her O.W.L.S. this year. Speaking of my O.W.L.S, I was pretty much screwed if I didn't get any miracles.

The three of them were still crossing their arms, not willing to do anything before the other. I heaved a sigh and decided to make the move, considering the fact that they would probably stand here glaring at each other if I didn't interrupt their little glaring party. "So. Who's doing what?" I asked, bossily, my hands lazily on my hips. I absolutely loathed being disorganized and unplanned, we had to be able to at least present something decent to Professor Stark, I thought. I was not really on her good side either.

"I will organize the files." Malfoy volunteered, which was extremely unusual of him, since his revering little minions did all the dirty work for him most of the time.

"Since when were you so productive and constructive? Doesn't Channing do everything for you? Washing your laundry too, perhaps?" Rose scoffed. To be honest, I didn't get why she started an argument with Malfoy out of everything, Malfoy was finally doing something useful and yet, she just had to barge in and make him lose his concentration. I would've gladly appreciated it if they both got on with their work and left the brawls to later, that way, at least me and Nathan won't have to sit around listening to their irritating arguments, like I was some kind of fourth wheel. I actually empathized with Nathan for once, he just stared at them blankly, his mind possibly wandering off to somewhere else, Tessa's 'treasure chest', I suppose. But one thing we didn't have in common was the fascination he found, he somehow managed to be part of his daydream, while looking at Rose and Malfoy argue like it was some kind of thrilling Quidditch match. What was so interesting about a classic Rose/Malfoy squabble?

"At least I'm not sitting around doing nothing, like you!" Malfoy shot back.

"Doing nothing? What do you mean doing nothing? Don't blame everything on me, the reason why we're even here is because of Nathaniel!" She protested. They both turned to Nathan as he widened his eyes, snapping out of his daydream of Tessa, I assumed, since there was a dreamy expression on his face. Or maybe he was thinking of another girl, going through them faster than Al going through tissue paper during flu season. He had such a vulgar, lewd imagination, I thought. Yet he was birdbrained and skin deep most of the time. Why is it that all of Rose's bloke encounters were either one hundred percent pompous, had the fantasy that they were the hottest thing since the microwave, had the maturity level of a five year old or had the IQ level of a boar? I've also heard from Keira that Rose's previous boyfriend was also a hubristic jackass. For god's sake just don't get involved with any bloke! You see how my point is relevant here? I advised Rose in my mind, imagining the actual scenario where I told her how I actually felt. The thought sent a shiver down my back, she would probably start yelling at me too.

"What?" Nathan said, still dreamy.

"If that douchebag didn't cheat on me, this wouldn't've even happened!" Rose complained, pointing at Nathan with a frustrated look on her face.

"How is this my fault? I'm the victim here, I got slapped by her!" Nathan accused.

"You surely deserved it." Malfoy muttered under his breath as everyone turned to him, flabbergasted.

"Wa... What... What did you say?" Rose faltered as Malfoy gave an expression similar to the ones you show when you've been caught redhanded, he then covered it up with a smug look.

"Let's just get on with the work! Professor Stark will be coming to check on us any minute now!" I reminded as they turned their hazardous glares to me. What did I ever do to them to deserve the glares?

Rose growled, as Malfoy took his wand out, chanting some kind of charm thinking that it would clean up all the mess and leave the room spick and span, the folders organized accordingly in alphabetic order. But unfortunately, the room was charmed to reject any kind of magic. Smart move, Professor Stark, I thought. Though now, it would be ten times harder to get this mess sorted out, not like I really considered using magic to cheat in the first place. "You idiot. Did you really think that you could get away with cheating?" Rose grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"How is this cheating? It's just an easier, convenient method to get the work done quicker!"

"That's because you're use to people serving and doing things for you!" Rose exclaimed. These two really didn't belong in the same room together, they repel like how same magnet poles repel. Opposites attract, they say. Maybe Rose and Malfoy were alike? Definitely not, I thought, I guess the theory doesn't work all the time.

I was assorted to look through the fifth year's and sixth year's files. Coincidentally, I got the privilege of looking through the data-filled files of people from my grade, including Al and Wendy, whom I were the most curious about. I considered taking a few peeps at the files, desiring to know everyone's backstory. How nosy of me.

Since there were only seven grades in Hogwarts, one of us were only required to organize one year group's files. And Nathan got away with organizing the first year's files because he won our game of rock, paper, scissor. Malfoy and Rose were arguing on doing the fifth year's files, Malfoy wanting to spy on everyone in our grade and Rose trying to prevent him from doing so, saying that it was wrong and rebellious of him, threatening to tell Lucy and put him in another detention, while Malfoy just 'smirked' it off, chortling at her nonsense. So Rose suggested that it was only fair if I was entitled to it, not knowing that I was the biggest spy among them all, the undercover agent working to combine Hogwarts gossip to write in a forum for The Quibbler, just kidding. Malfoy was very condemning of the idea at first, but he gave in at the end. Mumbling about how much of an arsehole Rose was and how he hated it that she prioritized fairness and equality, saying that it was pointless and foolish.

I decided to go through the fifth year's files first, they were piled up messily in a box, little attachments fallen off with stapler marks left on the corner. And obviously, nothing was in alphabetical order.

The first file I found was of Al, there was a picture of him grinning toothily at the camera, his hair still messy but a shade lighter, he looked around ten years old and pretty adorable if you asked me. I wanted to obtain information on his family, last time I checked, there was an sour and disappointed expression on his face whenever his dad was mentioned. Did his parents get divorced like mine? Was he undergoing child abuse? But all I discovered was the fact that he was living in a relatively decent family. His mother use to play for an all girls Quidditch team called the Holly Head Harpies; explains why he's so bloody brilliant at Quidditch, and that his dad was an iconic wizard that defeated an evil villain named Voldemort. I didn't find anything in particular that answered my question.

I arranged a few of the files, then finding Wendy's file as I curiously flashed it open. For one second, I considered putting it away; because although how much I despised her, I respected her privacy, there was even a 'do not open' sticker stamped next to her where her name was labeled. But I was so full of curiosity, the thought swarmed away in a matter of seconds.

Her full name 'Wendy Erica Sampson' was written on the top of the page, along with her birthday, passport information, and a brief description of her. There was a picture of her stuck on the file, she had straight brown hair and a very pale complexion, with a light dash of freckles across her cheeks. She looked a bit droopy, but other than that, she was quite attractive. She embraced her mini pug-like nose, unlike how she contoured her nose harshly by using a 'shimmery' brown bronzer to make her nose look more pointy and defined. With the glitter, she ended up looking like a hooker with an oily nose more than the thin nose look she was trying to achieve.

She looked very youthful in the picture, and she wore absolutely no makeup or coverage. She even looked very ordinary and normal, like a regular kid that you stumble across when you pass by Toy's R Us, she had no hint of slutiness to her, no hint of girly or bitchiness to her either. In fact, she looked more of a tomboy than a girly girl. This was seriously the first time I've ever seen her without any makeup on. What happened to her? Did an alien abduct her and transform her completely from head to toe? Or was she indoctrinated by a sinister cult of self obsessed little bitches.

I looked through her personal information, she had no mental disorders or other illnesses. Well, I personally thought that she was diagnosed with the self arrogance disorder. It was stated that she had three other sisters and both of her parents and her older sister, died in a car accident when she was only six. She currently lived with her grandmother and she was the only one in her family that attended a wizarding school. I kind of pitied her, losing one parent was hard enough, losing two? That must've been tragical... And I felt guilty for feeling grief when dad left us, I didn't really lose my dad, at least he wasn't dead...

"Hey! Chloe's invading through everyone's stuff!" Malfoy accused, narrowing his eyes. I immediately closed the file and stuffed it into the bottom of the box. Rose just stared at me. "Aren't you going to do anything about it? Knock points off Gryffindor? Or tattletale on her to your dear cousin Lucy? Or are you just going to let her get away with it because she isn't a Slytherin and because she is a friend of yours? What is your conception of fairness anyway?" Malfoy said. For once, he was being reasonable and 'fair'.

"What do you mean? Chloe isn't looking through anyone's stuff." Rose defended, as I felt guilty and a bit of pity for Malfoy. He was actually right, yet Rose was still defending me.

Malfoy just gaped at her, his look full of shock.

"Yeah Rose, she isn't." He still managed to be sarcastic even after being stunned.

So I organized the files without peeking into them, not wanting to feel even more guilty. I was almost done with organizing the sixth year's files when Rose asked me a question. "Hey Chloe, I thought you said you had a younger brother called Jake?" I nodded at her. "Wasn't he in first year?"

"Yeah, why?" I was perplexed, what did she mean?

"I was looking through the second year's files and I spotted a folder of this person called Shannon Finnigan? " She answered quizzically as I just stared at her in shock.

"What do you mean? I don't have a sister. And my file isn't in here, neither is Jake's." I was downright confused, what was she talking about? I didn't have a sister? Right...? Or maybe dad really was the extensive womanizer mum described him as, I can't believe that I was fed with even MORE lies! Can't anyone be honest and have integrity? Honestly, I kind of felt bad for mum now, I shouldn't've yelled at her, I shouldn't've put her under more pressure, she was suffering from dad's cheating little trickeries and maybe what I believed for my whole lifetime was true. Love was cruel, it wasn't a genuine feeling, men treated women without any respect and they toss them away like some used tissue paper. He didn't only cheat, he even lied to us and got a random whore pregnant! And maybe mum didn't even know that dad had another child somewhere. I can't believe him, why did I even agree to come here? I can't believe I forgave him and fell for dad's little lies so damn easily.

I just widened my eyes and stared at Rose, my mouth hanging open and my mind deep in thought. "Are you okay?" Rose asked, concerned, as I grabbed the file from Rose's hands. There was a picture of what appeared to be 'Shannon Finnigan', probably my half sister, she looked a lot like me and had a pair of baby blue eyes that were identical to mine. But instead of the rich dark hair that I inherited from my mother, she had ashy blonde locks that were braided into pigtails. I threw the file onto the ground in rage, as the scraps of paper started flying everywhere. "What's wrong?" Rose asked, worried.

"Hey, you said no looking!" Malfoy interrupted.

"I was just scamming through-" Rose paused when she realized that I stormed out of the room, infuriated. I wasn't thinking of the consequences of my actions, forgetting that Professor Stark was definitely giving me another detention for leaving the room without her permission. I heard Rose's faint "Come back here!"s and "You can't just leave!"s but none of that went pass my ears, because my mind was buzzing with a hundred questions. Was my dad really that much of a player? Did he cheat on my mum even when they were together? Who is Shannon Finnigan? Why was I even frustrated? Dad can have as many children as he wanted, why should it concern me? Could it have just been a coincidence? How many Finnigan's are there anyway? Would she've been my cousin; my dad's niece?

I was stomping along the corridor feeling my eyes tearing up a little, as I bumped right into Professor Stark, who was coming to check on us. "What are you doing here-" She reprimanded, seeing the tears in my eyes and changing her statement. "What happened?" She asked, concerned, as I just stared at her in shock? Since when did she ever cared about her students? Especially a big disappointment like me. Maybe there was another side to her? But why would someone try to act hostile and bitter all the time, doesn't she want to be liked by other people; at least not disliked? She looked at me, startled, as her expression turned into a scowl. "Get back, now!" I really didn't understand why she tried hiding the 'nice' side of her, who acted hostile and spiteful? How can that benefit her? "Now!" She commanded, as I obeyed her, not wanting to get another detention. Rose and Malfoy were arguing again, about me looking through the files. I slapped my forehead, heaving a sigh. "Is that true, Chloe? You looked through the files even when I prohibited you to do so?" Professor Stark screamed at me as the little hairs on my arms raised, I stood there stunned, not knowing what to say.

"Yes! Chloe was looking through a fifth year's files, I don't know who though." Malfoy tattletale-d, as I glared daggers at him.

"Is that true?" Professor Stark crossed her arms, lowering her eyes dangerously at me. Her hair tied uprightly into a bun like McGonagall's.

"No, I didn't intentionally look through any of the files. I was just organizing them." I lied, as she shot me a dubious look, raising one brow in suspicion. "Alright, I will be coming back roughly in another hour and you'll be dismissed then, only if everything is organized of course!" She stated, as we all groaned, her voice full of triumph, like she was glad that we were being kept in. Where was the 'nice' side of her (not sure if that side still remains, at this point) when I needed it?

As I crept back into my dorm room, it was after curfew. The fat lady was extremely wrathful, complaining that I woke her up in the middle of the night, though she was obviously exaggerating since it wasn't even midnight yet.

Keira was fully asleep, snoring like a little pig, it was pretty adorable. And Rose who I swear was tagging behind me a few seconds ago, was nowhere to be found. If I haven't misapprehended what she said, she was probably off on a midnight prefect duty, along with Malfoy and Vanessa of course. Poor Rosie. I still can't imagine how Vanessa even got the role. She probably pleaded McGonagall to let her patrol just for the sake of separating Rose and Malfoy and to stalk Malfoy's every move.

Wendy and Donna were cuddled up in a bed together, gossiping about the latest wizarding news and a new hair dressing salon that was opening in Diagon Alley this week.

Maybe after figuring out her sorrowful pathos of a backstory, I would've treated her better. But she was still an arrogant, attention seeking bitch that couldn't keep it in her pants, and I wouldn't respect someone who didn't respect herself.

Wendy sashayed up to me, her hands on her hip and her eyes glowing venomously, I swear, she had some ancestry connection to a basilisk, ruby red eyes that glowed and all. "You... you smell like A-..." She looked flabbergasted, as she realized what she said and changed her statement. "You smell!" She scrunched up her face in hatred and aggression, like a pit of burning coals were raging inside of her, as she stormily jumped into her bed and tucked herself in, her movements fast and harsh. Still glaring at me, she snuggled inside her blanket along with Donna and completely buried her face into her bed.

I lightly sniffed my sweater, it smelt like.. Al... And I somehow liked it. After leaning on his back for the entire afternoon, I guess his scent kind of transferred onto me. "Must be the sweat." I barked back, purposely in a snotty tone just to piss her off as I heard a muttered growl coming from under her blanket.

I smirked, satisfied and hopping into the shower just to wash off the 'sweat' on my body, I honestly smelt more like Al's fresh scent than sweat. For some reason, I secretly didn't want to shower, but I knew it would be unsanitary and unhygienic not to shower after working out. Like I've said before I hated any type of activity that involved moving around physically, so I guess this was considered a workout. I use to go to the gym forcibly thinking that it was healthy to move my body around a bit, not because I wanted to get any skinnier of course, I was literally near anorexic. But since I'm not good with commitments, it was more of a one time thing. Even though we had a near death experience and the suffering of what people call awkwardness, I still somehow wanted more... You know that weird feeling of craving a guilty pleasure? It was something like that.

Or maybe I was wrong, Al didn't make me fall in love with quidditch, he made me fall for something else, maybe I was falling for... No, I don't fall in love, there's no such thing as love! Love is just a shorter word for heartbreak. There's no actual definition to the word because it's absurd and it's not a real feeling! Besides, we're nothing more than friends! He just offered to teach me how to fly on a broomstick. But then why did he initiate the kiss? Why didn't I try to push him away? What am I talking about anyway, it didn't even happen! Love gets in the way of everything, Al is right, we should just forget about everything that happened and just be friends.

Yet for some reason, I felt my insides churning uncomfortably. But something tells me that it wasn't the dizzying draught this time. It was me, being nervous and anxious. How was that even possible? For my entire life, I never got goosebumps, I never shook in paranoia, or maybe that was just what I assumed and idealized myself to be? Was Hogwarts breaking down my walls? I cannot let this happen. Hogwarts was an amazing place, but changing me for the better? More like making me show vulnerability and weakness.

What I didn't know was that I was becoming even more human. Maybe I always was, I was just in denial. My sudden anger unleashing(s), that all came naturally as a package to an average human being, but why wasn't I ready to accept it? I've lived my life for fifteen (almost sixteen) years, considering my entire lifespan, that was barely a quarter of it. But why did I still wanted to conceal all of that? Why didn't I want anyone to see me as dependent or weak? Why did I care so much? Maybe I just couldn't hide my true self, Hogwarts was making it harder for me to hide anything, and maybe it was inhuman of me to attempt hiding it at all. I wanted to take longer to open up to people, but it just happens, I trusted people too easily, I was blunt and impulsive, I hated sugar coating things, I made friends with people I barely knew, and there was nothing I can do to change myself. Should I embrace my character and stop trying to be a stronger more settled person? There was no easy answer to life, but I just wished for sheer luck and a getaway ticket to somewhere in the Artic, living with polar bears and beluga whales and having a decent life there without any interaction with people. That way, I wouldn't have to deal with my dad, or anything love related. I mean, I wouldn't start making out with a polar bear, that would just be plain disgusting.


	9. Chapter 7 (part1): Quidditch Match

**Author's Note: Relax, nothing would happen between Natalia and Jake, they're only first years... well they might get together AFTER chloe graduates, which is around four years later. you can ship them if you want, your opinion comes into consideration :) so don't forget to review and tell me what you think. i'm currently sort of lacking favs and follows 'compared' to reviews so i would highly appreciate it if readers would fav or follow :) **

_I was standing in the middle of a deserted room. It was pitch black and chilly. There were no doors or any escape routes, and I was surrounded by darkness. With the absence of light and visual stimuli, I felt my energy drained from me, like I was absorbed and captured in a black comet. Losing the faculty of perceiving my surroundings gave me the slight feeling of insecurity._

_Suddenly, my eyes were pierced with radiant, glowing light, which became the only light source of the entire room. There stood a figure; a figure of a welcoming, charming angel. She had beautiful long hair that cascaded down her back and a golden hoop floating on top of her head. She was wearing a snowy white dress; its hems folded around her arms. She smiled a million dollar smile and she looked completely genuine._

_Blinded by the light, I covered half of my face with my palms. I made my way along a newly revealed path, nearing the figure that was awaiting me with a warm greeting. It looked so innocent, so youthful, that I trusted it completely. I placed my hand on its shoulders and suddenly, it morphed into a wicked monster with long fangs growing out of its mouth. Its hair now pointed hazardously in different directions, its red eyes gleaming evilly. It reminded me of a basilisk, but I was capable of staring at it without being _

_I bolted away from it, trying to find an exit. Again, I was lured into a trap. I was bamboozled by how it appeared to be. _I really need to work on my trust issues_, I thought. But like I previously described, the room was blank and doorless. I felt like I was running and trapped in nothingness, like there would never be an escape and I would be running away from the monster eternally._

_The monster came scuttling towards me, I turned towards it as its face morphed into how I pictured my dad to look like. Since he left us when I was barely five, I was clueless about how he really appeared. Mum hid all of the family photos we took together, and one day, I tried scamming through her stuff, but she was pretty good at hiding her tracks. I vaguely remembered his features, his baby blue eyes that I inherited, and his shaggy, mousy brown hair. He was relatively tall, but maybe that was just how I imagined him to be because I was only four when I admired his height. And as a four year old, let's just say that I wasn't abnormally tall or anything; so even Mum, who I'm much taller than now, use to be giant-sized to me._

_The figure smirked and brandished his hand, and with a _poof_, two girls wearing sensual looking black lingerie popped out of nowhere. They sashayed around seductively, licking their lips and winking at him. I just stood there disgusted, not knowing how to react to it._

_They wore black leather, spiky collars, and these frilly lingerie and fishnet panty-holes. They also had handcuffs tied around their wrists and they were wearing five inched black heels, licking their matte black manicured fingers as the monster who had attempted to attack me earlier started drooling in admiration._

_The monster still looked like dad, and it almost lured me into its trap. I shut my eyes and tried clearing the thought in my mind. When I opened them again, the monster suddenly turned green in color, and its skin started burning as it moaned in pain and called for help._

_I successfully ran away from it, thinking that I was safe and protected. But I was wrong. An identical form of the previous monster appeared right in front of me. This time it morphed into Wendy, and she was batting her lashes and flicking her hair repeatedly, taking on her form that annoyed me the most._

_Then Al materialized next to her. He was smirking, his arms wrapped around Wendy as he kissed him right on the lips. They were locked together for a long period of time, continuing vehemently and completely ignoring my existence. I just stood there, shocked and infuriated at the same time. I didn't even know why I was so mad, I just went ahead and slapped Wendy right in the face. But she didn't turn around, Al did._

_"Why are you mad, Chloe? Are you jealous?" Al sneered, as Wendy batted her lashes, leaving Al lusting for more._

_I couldn't bear the thought. I started pulling on my hair and screaming in frustration. I wasn't jealous, I just _hated _Wendy! What happened to Al? Was he under the Imperius Curse? Was he... _wait a second, this isn't Al_, I told myself. The real Al never smirked, he never mocked me, he never laughed at me... was this all just a dream?_

When I was awoken from my horrifying nightmare, I was cowered up in fear, perturbed and rolled up like a ball. My eyelids fluttered open. I was drenched in sweat and I felt a hot, tingling sensation to my skin. My forehead was layered with droplets of sweat, my bed damp. I darted up, gasping for air and panting heavily and unevenly. My dream came flashing back to my mind - what had it meant?

Rose hopped out of her bed, hearing my loud gasping and rushing over. "Are you okay, sweetie? A nightmare?" She patted my back and offered lukewarm water for me to drink. I gratefully accepted it and took down large gulps, my heavy panting slowing down a little. "Better?" she asked, concerned. I responded by nodding weakly.

I rested for a while, Rose patting me on the back reassuringly. I had to say, she would make a great mother, and I guess she was experienced considering the amount of cousins she had.

"What time is it?" I questioned tiredly. Honestly, I hated how I was showing weakness, with Rose having to take care of me. I was really thankful, but I wished that I could take care of myself without somebody else's assistance and reassurance.

"It's four twenty. Rest." She continued patting me, angelically, like some kind of... angel. I shrunk away from her in fear as she stared at me, perplexed. My eyes bored into hers intensely, but she didn't morph into a monster. I sighed in relief as she just gave me a weird look. "Are you okay...?"I just nodded at her. "Sleep tight." She tucked me into bed and wandered back to have her own sleep. I felt dependent and guilty; she must've been disturbed from her sleep by my screams, yet she didn't even yell at me - she comforted me.

There was the sarcastic and competitive side to Rose, but she was also the kindest most considerate person after Keira, who would've been the first to comfort me if she wasn't deeply immersed in 'nightmare-free' dreamland.

Soon enough, my alarm clock started beeping.

"Turn it off!" Wendy complained, uncovering her eye patch as I shot her a groggy glare and slammed it. "Your screams last night kept me awake! You were calling my name, like are you obsessed with me?" she snapped as I intensified my glare. How much did she prioritize self-importance? Oh that was a rhetorical question, sorry. Obsessed with her? In her dreams. I really didn't want to deal with her prissy little demands first thing in the morning.

But as soon as I remembered her monstrous form from my dream, I just cringed and buried my face under my sheets, not wanting to be reminded of that dreadful nightmare. That was the first nightmare I actually remembered having. Normally, I don't recall the happenings in my dreams. I wake up with the desperate urge of wanting to brush my teeth or splash my face with invigorating, icy, cold water. The thought of a dream barely crossed my mind. And I wasn't scared, I was just shocked, I kept telling myself.

Rose was quickly splattering water over her face and combing through her fiery red hair, literally jumping into a pair of jeans and tugging on a wool cardigan. Then I realized, today was a Sunday, and it was the first Quidditch match of the year; Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, and Al and Louis were on opposing teams...

But with everything going on between Al and I, I didn't know what to do. And I really wanted to get to the bottom of our situation to get over with it. But was it confusion? Worry? Nerves? It was so indescribable, even I didn't know what to do. And did my dream have anything to do with it?

Louis was not really an outgoing and fun person, but he was pretty fit. I've never seen him ride on a broomstick, but I can somehow picture him swarming through the Quidditch field with spectacular agility and speed, kicking Gryffindor right in the arse.

I was personally a Gryffindor, but I still debated over going for Ravenclaw instead. I wanted to root for my own house, but with Al on the team, all I can picture in my mind is him falling off his broomstick or Wendy cheering for him in the stands with fake enthusiasm. I mentally rolled my eyes at the thought, and I wished for her to not show up at the match today. My day can be fifty percent more enjoyable just by not having to see her.

But we were dorm mates. So even on weekends, I still had to listen to her whiny little complaints and her prissy cat screech of a voice, polluting my hearing and making me incapable of focusing on school work or actually producing something constructive. For me, it isn't considered a break if I'm not in a calm mood, sipping on a cup of hot chocolate and reading my favorite book. And I mean, _without_ an annoying presence around, someone that couldn't keep their mouth shut about shallow grumblings on their appearance or their infatuations with boys.

Abruptly, a taupe feathered owl came fluttering in through the window, dropping a letter onto my desk and sitting on the window sill, waiting patiently for my response.

Judging by the appearance of the owl, I knew immediately that it was Dad's. With the other complicated situation going on in my life, I was too enraged to react sensibly to the situation. I just threw the parchment at the owl and stalked off. The poor owl had to endure my spontaneous fit of anger, almost getting knocked off the window sill.

"Hey, calm down, Chloe. We shouldn't treat animals that way. Wasn't that what you said to Wendy the other day? No animal abuse!" Rose was observing the dramatic scene I made and commenting wittily. "Who's the letter from?"

"Shut up Rose! It's always about fairness and equality with you, isn't it? You know, I'm starting to understand why Malfoy always judges you! You're a bloody hypocrite! You act like you care about these small and pointless little things, when really, you do the exact same things right behind our backs!" I snapped, instantly regretting my impulsive remark, knowing deep inside that I was wrong and that she was only trying to calm me down. Remembering everything she did to help me yesterday, which included waking up purposely just to calm me down from a nightmare in the middle of the night, patting me reassuringly and feeding me words of comfort. I felt a wave of guilt and remorse crash down on me. I could feel it in my gut. The thought of it made me clutch my stomach protectively.

"Oh, so now you're taking Malfoy's side? I was just trying to help you! Why did you have to bring up that pompous little git, like I need any _more_ people to remind me of that disgraceful man-whore!" she exclaimed, exasperated.

"I'm not taking Malfoy's side! I just don't get why hitting an owl with a bloody piece of paper - which does no harm by means of attack - has anything to do with animal abuse! I was just irritated, okay, because of my dad!" My thoughts came blurting out of my mouth unintentionally. But luckily, I excluded the part about expressing my anger towards the wrong people, meaning Rose, not wanting to admit defeat.

"And what do you mean by your dad..." She paused mid-sentence, letting out a small gasp in realization and widening her eyes in shock. "Shannon," she murmured. At least she wasn't pinheaded like someone else I knew, who would never understand even if I bluntly told them everything. I crossed my arms and avoided Rose's gaze, storming off to the bathroom to get my clothes changed, slamming the door behind me violently.

I splashed my face with cold water, hoping that it would wake me up and wash off the stress that was contaminating my health. I soaked my face in the sink for so long my entire face felt numb, and when I resurfaced, small droplets trickled down a few waterlogged strands of hair.

After I changed into a casual pair of jeans and a sweater, I sprayed my signature light vanilla scent all over myself, smelling like I bathed in a pool of sugar and candy. I inhaled the aromatic scent and exhaled lightly, feeling a lot more pleasant and relaxed.

The letter dad sent me was sitting on my desk, awaiting me. But for some reason, there was something strange about the way the mahogany ribbon was tied around it. The ribbon was tied tightly around the centre; and though my memory span was usually had the capacity of a goldfish, I vaguely remembered the fact that he used to tie the ribbon a lot more loosely and on one side. The parchment was also rolled up a lot more neatly and firmly, especially considering Dad had this nonchalant way of rolling up his parchments.

I slowly unleashed the ribbon, the letter read:

_Dear Chloe,_

_I've enquired Professor McGonagall on the Hogsmeade weekend schedules. Next week would be your first ever Hogsmeade weekend, and I would like it very much if we can meet up at Hog's Head at eleven thirty to have lunch together. And also, bring Jake along with you. I'm very excited to meet the pair of you, and I'm sure you've grown into a beautiful young lady._

_With love,_

_Dad_

I didn't know how to respond to his letter. I felt a sense of infuriation and curiosity boiling inside of me. I was initially refusing the idea of going, but I was slightly eager to know who Shannon was. If we can just discuss things through and have everything sorted out... the right side of my brain was still imagining dad as this positive figure in my life and getting carried away, while the left side of my brain kept arguing with the right side, being logical and convincing me to snap back into reality; your dad would never treat you like a real daughter, it kept on saying, don't fall for it. My mind was buzzing with so much debate, that I wanted to scream my head off.

I then spotted a thin, red, ringlet strand attached to the letter. It looked like... Rose's. I knew there was something fishy about that. Was she the one who looked through my letter? So I confronted her, demanding for an explanation.

"Look, I just wanted to know why you were so upset, and... I'm sorry," she said, apologetically.

I usually would've lashed out on her but I realized how pointless it would've been to get mad at her when there was nothing I can do about it. "Promise me that you won't ever do it again," I said irritably as she nodded and started apologizing all over again. It was out of my nature not to snap at her or get crabby in any kind of way - even she looked startled by my mild and forgiving response.

So, in a rather friendly matter, we strode down to the Quidditch pitch along with Keira, who had slept in until the last minute, and was in a rush to get ready in time. Rose and I were back to our usual selves, chattering about how excited we were for the upcoming match. Again, I wasn't really a sporty person, and so was Rose; she enjoyed reading more than physically moving, but we were both excited see the winning house. We even started arguing about the house we were rooting for; she jokingly told me that I was dishonoring Gryffindor for supporting Ravenclaw, while I just laughed it off and said that I had this gut instinct that Ravenclaw was going to win, when truthfully, I was just trying to conceal the somewhat confounding and nerve racking situation Al and I were going through. And for once, Rose wasn't able to read through my mind like a flashcard. Normally, I was an open book and everyone saw right through me. But this time, either Rose was slacking in the brain malfunction department today, or I just improved in hiding how I genuinely felt.

Wendy and Donna were nowhere to be found, though it wasn't like Wendy was even fascinated by Quidditch. Her brain was fully occupied by thinking of strategies to impress and to be adored by people; and since she was pinheaded, her brain wasn't capable of doing much more. And with that, she was still failing to be adored by people. For instance, Keira and I both despised her. The best she can do is to cheer for Al at the bleachers hoping that he would return her affection, or more specifically, infatuation.

By the time we got to the bleachers, they were clustered with people. Although it was a two housed match, most of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were there, but while the Hufflepuffs had a versatile mindset on picking sides, the Slytherins were supporting neither of the houses. They were apparently trying to inspect team strategies so they will have a better chance against each house when they have to compete against them. Rose told me that the Ravenclaws; being intelligent and witty, decided to switch up their approach towards each house, so that the other team wouldn't be able to predict or anticipate what they were up against. Basically, instead of enjoying and actually being entertained by the joviality and alacrity of the match, the Slytherins were vying for opportunities to win their upcoming matches.

I spotted Jake sitting in the front row with Natalia. He held a blue banner that had 'GO RAVENCLAW!' written on it with silver glitter pens, while Natalia was crossing her arms and was looking rather moody, grumbling that Jake forced her to reluctantly watch a Quidditch match even when she didn't want to.

Speaking of Jake, I hadn't seen him since Tuesday, and it had been the longest time that we'd ever been separated. I was use to him trailing behind me whenever I went grocery shopping, or when I needed somebody's company on a foul day. But this week, I handled myself well enough even without him around, and in fact, he hardly crossed my mind. This I felt self-centred and ashamed of, knowing that it was my responsibility to take care of him; despite how horrible I was at it.

"I missed you!" I hugged him right at the spot. Natalia was chortling hysterically, while Jake pursed his lips in annoyance. He normally loved my hugs, but I guess he didn't want me to humiliate him in front of his new friends. Other than that, Jake didn't really respond, he just nodded at me. "So, how's school?" I asked.

"Pretty good, I guess. And Natalia is dreadful at Potions," he joked, as Natalia crossed her arms, irritated.

"You're only saying that because Potions is your best subject! You insufferable little git!" They sounded a bit like Malfoy and Rose, and that scared me. But they were best friends, not mortal enemies.

"You two are adorable!" I commented as they both shot me twinning looks of repugnance. "That's what I'm talking about." I pointed out their identical reactions as they 'both', again, scrunching up their faces in disgust.

Soon enough, the match began. As both of the team captains shook hands, I scurried back to where my seat was. Rose and Keira were gesturing at me to hurry up. Once I settled down into my seat, I realized that Louis and Al were both team captains. Even though they were cousins, Louis seemed to be a bit distasteful of Al. But Al wasn't being really perceptive; he responded with a toothy grin and a warm hand shake, or maybe it was an act or done with sarcasm.

"AND, BEGIN!" the announcer - one of James's friends, Phillip Jordan, shouted as Madam Hooch blew her whistle. The team members went soaring into the air like rockets as the first years ogled at them, mesmerized.

The Gryffindor chasers, which included Al, Isla Clearwater and this rugged, durable looking sixth year, surrounded the quaffle, trying to keep it away from their opponent as Nathan Edgecombe, one of the Ravenclaw chasers, attempted to snatch it away from them.

"Gryffindor is leading!" Phillip exclaimed, obviously cheering for his own house. "Everybody, see how Albus Severus is definitely going to score a hundred points for Gryffindor?" he said, earning a few guffaws from James and the rest of Al's long listed cousins, while everyone else just cheered, not getting the joke. I felt kind of bad for Al, being mocked and called 'Albus Severus' when he clearly wasn't comfortable with it; it wasn't like there was anything wrong with his name, it was just that he seemed very restless.

"Please refrain from biased commentary, Phillip." Madam Hooch instructed. Phillip responded with a mischievous grin, a roar of laughter coming from the delirious pandemonium. However, Al got distracted as he was one step closer to tossing the quaffle through the Ravenclaw hoop, until he carelessly let Louis, who played beater, smack a bludger right at him.

Isla flew in front of Al and shoved him away, the bludger ramming into her left arm. She moaned in pain and rubbed her elbow, and Al began anxiously questioning her as to if she was okay. For some reason, I felt my insides churn again.

Al demanded for a break, but Louis, declined his request and negotiated on continuing on, saying that Isla was only undergoing minor injury. They started arguing, which was very unlike Al. They even started yelling at one point, which I found very strange. Even Rose was gawking at them in astonishment. Al usually wasn't much of a bad tempered person, and Louis was usually much more considerate and caring. But I guessed he was also competitive; I remembered him mentioning that he thought of himself as a Slytherin.

"It's okay, Al, I'm fine." Isla reassured, but Al was still glaring daggers at Louis, seeming very determined.

So the game went on, Al scored a couple of times, and he truly was gifted with the talent of being an amazing chaser. Rose mentioned that his father use to be a seeker and that his mum played in a Quidditch all-girl World Cup team, which I already knew, because I might or might not have poked into his personal file.

Louis kept whacking bludgers at him - I didn't know why he was so aggressive; he repeatedly sent five bludgers straight his way. I began to think he possibly sent those bludgers at him because he was the primary scorer in Gryffindor. Luckily, Al was quick-witted and he managed to avoid all of them by swerving away or dodging. This brawny looking seventh year, the other Ravenclaw beater, who looked like he had the brain capacity of a caveman, with his scruffy hair and tough attitude who also kind of reminded me of an aggressive gorilla, dodged all of the bludgers James, the Gryffindor beater, sent at him. Whoever James was aiming to attack, the scruffy cavemen dude stood in front of them to dodge the bludger, the ball practically bouncing off him like a boomerang and turning towards the Gryffindors instead.

James, along with this girl, Rochelle Summers; who was pretty strong and vigorous considering her slender and slightly muscular body figure, shot bludgers specifically at Nathan, wanting to embarrass him from messing with her dear cousin, Rose. They occasionally sent bludgers at Louis, attempting to prevent him from shooting repeatedly at Al, because he was their best chaser and the team didn't want to risk losing him. Unfortunately for the Ravenclaws, the scruffy caveman was too slow and dumb for James's swift and sharp movements. One of his bludgers smacked Nathan right in the face, leaving him with a horrible nosebleed and a bruise on his left cheek; identical to the one on his right that Malfoy had given him. Nathan started grumbling and demanding for a break, but Louis refused to stop, saying that it would show weakness and disgrace to his team. _Look at the bright side, Nathan_, I thought. _At least it brought symmetry to your face._

"40-70!" Phillip announced, his voice full of boisterousness due to the thirty point lead his house reached. "Oh! Has Lily Potter spotted the golden snitch?"

He left us pondering with curiosity, as Lily went swarming across the field, one hand securing herself on her broomstick and the other hand reaching right up in the air trying to obtain the golden snitch.

I saw a flashy gleam of gold flying around the pitch at rapid speed, zooming back and forth and dashing near the Ravenclaw stands. Lily charged towards the stands, a determined and look on her face. The wind was blowing in her face so violently, I feared that her head was going to snap off. A strand of her fiery red hair flew out of her helmet. I guess red hair was a typical Weasley trait, although Rose's hair was a little bit brighter and bolder.

She was only a centimeter away from the snitch. Roy Johnson, the Ravenclaw seeker, usually had a style of flying unhurriedly behind the other seeker so he wouldn't' have the honours of doing the dirty work of finding the snitch himself. He also found that this allowed him to charge pass the seeker, physically pushing them away in order to lay his hands on the snitch first. He was also Nathan's backup plan if Nathan ever decided to change his mind and become a homosexual - not like Nathan had such a limited set of options to choose from, I mean, he had Tessa Williams and a cluster of his other fangirls, which consisted of Tessa's jealous best friends; Roy _was _the bloke Nathan cheated with when Nathan fabricated that lame 'I'm gay' excuse, thinking that Rose would fall for it, because he was such an _intelligent_ and _strategical_ Ravenclaw who _totally_ deserved to be sorted into the house. I would've probably made a better Ravenclaw even though I'm nothing like one.

Roy sped past Lily as she almost fell off her broomstick, resulting in an infuriated James sending a powerful bludger at him, almost knocking him off his broom as the bludger hit him right in his stomach.

The snitch suddenly vanished out of sight and was nowhere to be seen. Lily heaved a sigh and yelled at Roy for messing up their chances of winning, saying that she could've laid her hands on it if he didn't interrupt by messing things up for both of them. Then she started complaining that she would have to go search for the snitch all over again with Roy tagging behind her like a dependent little git. Roy just responded with a playful smirk as I saw James resist himself from sending another bludger at Roy for attempting to flirt with his sister.

The game proceeded. "80-80. Currently tying." Phillip declared, his voice lacking all the enthusiasm he used to have when Gryffindor was leading. "Come on Gryffindor, Ravenclaw is about to beat your arse!"

"Mind your language! And avoid bias, Phillip." Madam Hooch repeated, sounding rather cross this time.

Ravenclaw persisted with the scoring, reaching 100 points; but with no lead on catching the snitch. I saw Louis whisper something into Roy's ear, also grumbling at him to start being more perceptive and to step up his game or he would have to find a better seeker for the upcoming matches.

Suddenly, Lily spotted a speck of gold and she started chasing after it. Roy again was trailing behind her like a lost puppy, attempting to barge pass her with physical strength.

The Ravenclaws were cheering for Louis, trying to get him to send a bludger at her to stop her from catching the snitch. But he was too busy sending bludgers at Al to bother about Lily.

James and Rochelle sent a few bludgers at Roy, the caveman unsuccessfully dodging one of them. He clutched on his broomstick with his fingernails like how cats do when they are thrown onto a slippery icy lake, elongating its claws and sliding, terrified.

Louis was so occupied by beating bludgers at Al that he didn't even bother shielding Roy - meaning shooting bludgers sent at him back to the Gryffindors.

Fortunately for Louis (if that was what he wanted), Al got hit with one of the bludgers right in the face, leaving him with a bleeding nose and a black eye. The throng gasped, startled, as James sped over to where Al was, for once being a big brother that didn't tease, but instead cared for his younger sibling.

Al whispered something into James's ears secretively, his eyes lowering mischievously and deviously, like he was up to something. James just nodded with the 'fair enough' look and did as he was told. It was pretty cute seeing the two brothers working together, Al was the brains, and James did as he was instructed to.

James and Rochelle started firing dozens of bludgers at Louis's back, most of them hitting Roy instead. The brilliant thing about Al's so called 'master plan' was to distract Roy so that Lily would get to the snitch first. Roy seemed very giddy and lightheaded, so I guess his plan worked. What were they all Ravenclaws for, I didn't know.

As we all could've seen, Al was not one to impulsively react to things; he wouldn't get back at Louis by snatching the bludger from James with his bare hands and throwing it directly at him, making a scene and attracting lots of attention. At least I would've reacted that way, knowing that I was personally a really impulsive and action causing person; unintentionally of course, I mean, I would never fish for attention, I'd rather be left alone. Instead, Al got back at the Ravenclaws without breaking any rules or losing any points for his team, coming up with actual strategies that were practical. He honestly should've been the one who was in that house.

Louis was so focused on dodging bludgers and glowering at Al and James, he didn't even notice Lily's successful attempt at grabbing hold of the snitch. One thing I could never understand was the cold ice running between the two of them. I've never seen such burning hatred in Louis's eyes, his eyes gleamed with so much detestation, he looked like a serial killer smiling for a mugshot. Did Al do something to upset him? Louis seemed very irritated by Al, certainly, yet Al just responded with a blank, expressionless gaze.

"And Gryffindor wins with 230 points!" Phillip announced jovially. The Gryffindor population cheered and whooped, jumping up from their seats in exhilaration, while the majority of the Ravenclaws growled and moaned in annoyance. I saw Jake sheepishly putting down his 'Go Ravenclaw!' banner and paying Natalia the galleon I gave him. Natalia smirked triumphantly as Jake frowned at her. _Don't spend your galleons on some stupid bet_, I remembered telling him. I was going to grill him.

Al just gave the cheering crowd a weak smile, descending down to the grass below. Isla had her arm hung around his neck, along with the entire Gryffindor team. James was constantly staring at Rochelle, looking a tiny bit flustered and nervous.

To everyone's surprise, he leaned in and kissed her right in the lips. Rochelle was utterly dazed, she looked like she froze in time, but after snapping into realization, she responded hungrily and passionately. Half of the crowd was disgusted, and the other half were laughing and whooping. Phillip gaped at them, his mouth hanging wide open and looking lost for words, not notifying the audience on the tiniest little things he observed like how he usually did.

"They're so adorable! Love is in the air!" Keira squealed in delight. She was one of those people who never had an actual boyfriend; at least not that I've heard of, considering the fact that she babbles on and on about herself everyday, not in the conceited kind of way, but in the let me friendlily tell you about my past experiences kind of way. And yet she fantasizes and gets all stimulated and enlivened whenever she caught a glimpse of any couple hanging around at the grounds of Hogwarts.

"No, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen-" Rose replied, faltering two seconds later. "And some kind of- oh yeah, argon, is." I just chuckled at her witty response as Keira scowled. "Read mum's encyclopedia the other day. It caught my eye, so…" she said, as I noticed how her eyes were gleaming venomously, like she was ready to sabotage anyone that stood in front of her with laser lights zapping out of her eyes. I tried tracing down the object that she was glaring at, and it turned out it was Malfoy, as usual.

Malfoy was nonchalantly sitting crossed legged on the Slytherin stands with Channing. Everyone was heading towards the exits and leaving, the Gryffindors off to go celebrate their win. Some hyped Gryffindors were crowd surfing Lily around in the air, like she was some grand, auctioned prize. Lily seemed to be enjoying her minor limelight, though it was honestly Louis's fault for Gryffindors win. I still didn't understand why he focused so hard on beating Al with bludgers instead of assisting his team on winning points for his house. He seemed to have vanished out of sight, with all the clamor and racket going on with the Gryffindors, I wasn't cognizant enough to realize that he left and went off somewhere.

As Malfoy spotted Rose watching him put his arm over Vanessa, he leaned in and kissed her right in the mouth. Vanessa seemed happily surprised as she kissed him back.

Rose looked like a deer in the headlights, her facial expression later morphing into a look of supreme revulsion, like someone shoved a broomstick right up her arse. She tried to hide the excruciating and intolerable expression on her face but she failed miserably.

"I'm gonna k-" he threatened in a murderous tone. I heard a few "that bitch"s and "strangle her"s as Keira's eyes twinkled in amusement and glee. I just responded with a disapproving look and she just gave me a triumphant 'suit yourself' look.

"Aww. Our Rosie is jealous, growing green and scaly like the Wicked Witch of the West," Keira whispered into my ear, almost squealing in excitement. Rose way too distracted to even notice Keira's lame little tactics to get them together.

"Yeah Keira, Rose is _so _jealous!" I replied sarcastically. She just nodded rapidly, not getting it. I rolled my eyes at her; Keira really needed mental help. Firstly, Rose does not like Malfoy, the thought itself was disturbing. Secondly, they absolutely abhorred each other. Which leads me into thinking that Malfoy did it to annoy Rose, because I could bet a hundred galleons that Malfoy doesn't genuinely like Channing, he's either using her for his personal entertainment in the relationship department, the charismatic attraction, so even more girls would start worshipping him, _or_ to make Rose feel hopeless and depressed, by showing that he was happily dating when Rose was coping through a dreadful breakup. Probably all three options, and heaps more, because isn't that what Slytherins do? Use people and manipulate them?


	10. Chapter7 (part2): Embracing Insecurities

**Author's Note: I changed the tile of my story and it's slowly starting to make sense ;)**

All the Gryffindor's were off to the common room to celebrate their win, Rose tagged behind Keira. What I really didn't expect from Keira was her party animal spirit.

All I can say is that Keira is the definition of a hopeless romantic party animal. Which I find is the strangest most eccentric quality of a person. Normally, hopeless romantics were shy and dreamy, yet there was the wild side to her. She practically brandished cups of firewhiskey everywhere and started offering random seventh years shots of alcohol, playfully kissing them on the cheek and dancing around the room crazily. The thing that startled me the most was her passionate and ardent snogging encounter with a sixth year Hufflepuff, Melinda Bones. She was wild, but I would've never anticipated her being a lesbian, or possibly bisexual. Then I thought maybe she won't even remember tomorrow.

Rose seemed pretty insouciant about it, considering the fact that this was her fifth year here, though she did seem slightly astounded by the amount of shots she was taking. Keira normally took no more than three douses, Rose had said.

As the other houses heard that the party was going strong, they stood near the fat lady's portrait, waiting impatiently for someone to come out so they can creep in when everybody's occupied with the music and the dancing. A clumsy (most likely drunk) Gryffindor incautiously granted access for everyone, handing out free firewhiskey drinks. The fat lady was apparently taking a nap, screaming at us to stop the music and telling us to think over our priorities.

Soon enough, the Gryffindor common room was clustered with almost the entire Hogwarts population, excluding the first, second and third years. A few of the Gryffindor prefects declined their entries and pushed them away, but a few managed to come in; figuring out how messed up the party was and heading towards the exit.

Rose seemed pretty contented until Malfoy and Channing made an entrance as the power couple of Slytherin, his followers trailing behind them, whooping and cheering. Her expression suddenly changed from sunshine and rainbows to hot, boiling anger.

"This is a Gryffindor celebration party. Get out," Rose growled, the limited amount of remaining party-animal spirit within her sinking away like quicksand. Malfoy gave Channing another peck on the lips. Rose frowned at them and looked away, attempting to send off the Slytherins. A few of them, with the addition of some Hufflepuffs, were dancing around jovially, hyper and most likely drunk. They seemed very carefree and confident, prancing around without a care in the world, claiming that they were 'breaking tradition'; the Slytherins normally thought they were more superior than the Hufflepuffs, and for that matter, everyone else. I guessed they would wake up regretting everything, though I do wish that it was always like this. I agree with Rose completely that house unity is important; but not including interaction with Malfoy or any of his revering minions.

"Oh come on, Weasley, have some fun!" Malfoy drawled in a mocking tone, shooting her his trademark smirk.

"Please fulfill your duty as a prefect, or I will tell Lucy about this," Rose threatened in return.

"Who cares? She would let me off, falling for my charismatic charm," he flaunted, smirking yet again whilst giving Channing another peck on the lips. The normal Channing would've squealed and yelped in joy, but either she knew she was being used, or she was too drunk to react conventionally.

And I knew that Keira would've been squealing just like Channing, but in a 'less annoying way', according to Rose; despite the fact that their squeals sound exactly the same to me. Keira would be trying to prove her unrealistic and impractical point that Malfoy secretly liked Rose. Even though Rose disagrees, Keira's point revolves around the two in question, so who else would know better than the girl who was directly affiliated with the concept?

Keira was standing in a corner, enthusiastically snogging Melinda while also tugging her by the arm onto the dance floor, where most of the party attendants were. She looked happier than I've ever seen in days. The only other time she had that magical sunny glow on her face was when she was notified about Crookie's improving health condition. And speaking of Crookie, she recovered completely, celebrating her improved health by bouncing from bed to bed in alacrity. As soon as Wendy found paw prints on her bed sheets, she started shrieking and screaming in my face. I'm proud to say that I had her stalk off in mortification once I informed her that Oceana was at Louis'.

"If you were as charismatic as you describe yourself as, why am I not falling head over heels for you?" Rose taunted impertinently, huffing.

"Oh you _are._" Keira suddenly popped out of nowhere, grinning from ear to ear with Melinda drowsily leaning on her shoulder, ambling around wobbly and giggling in an attempt to balance herself.

Malfoy just simply stared at Keira, his face twitching slightly, but managing another smirk all the same. "Oh, yes she is." He sneered, but not as confidently as he usually would be.

Rose turned pink in the face, like an over sunburned tanning failure. "N-no. Bloody no!" Rose hesitated a bit at first, trying to sound certain. As Keira shot her a look of amusement and sloppily wandered off to the dance floor, Melinda tied around her arm. "That girl is cuckoo." Rose joked, twirling a finger around her ear and plastering on a forced, overenthusiastic grin.

"Don't worry, she's just drunk." I reassured, as Malfoy's almost invisible eyebrows shot all the way up to his hairline. Eventually he ambled out of the Common Room, Channing calling after him two minutes later, not knowing that he already left.

"By the way, where's Al?" Rose changed the subject. I blinked. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen him or Louis ever since the match.

"Right here!" He appeared out of nowhere, waving at Rose cheerfully. His bubbly mood instantly abandoned him as he caught my eye. He turned towards the exit, looking rather gloomy.

"Wait!" I yelled after him. He instantly whirled on his heels, but looked at me in a way that let me know that he was looking at me, but wasn't actually _seeing_ me.

"Have you seen Louis, Al?" Rose questioned. Al flinched a little and had another feeble attempt at making his way back towards the exit. "Look, Al, I don't know what's happening between you and Louis. You two were so close until Chl-" Al shot Rose a menacing glower.

"There's nothing going on between us. He's just being competitive and so am I! Quidditch comes before family. James said so for himself," Al stated, shrugging. He then looked as though he were about to make another escape attempt, like we had spontaneously turned into individual Medusas and were about to petrify him. He scurried off, trying to blend into the crowd but sticking out horridly, like a sore thumb. It was easy for me to track him down; he was taking apparent refuge next to Isla Clearwater and a bunch of her annoying, giggly friends.

"Are you okay? Louis, he-" I asked, worried. He cut me off. "Why do you even care about him? He wasn't the one who got hurt._ I_ was," he snapped. I'd never seen him as incensed as he was now. It stunned me. Then, his facial expression turned from exasperation to shock, like he was startled by what had just come out of his mouth; like it was unintentional. He shook his head and avoided my eye contact.

"_Are_ you okay? Your nose…" I lightly touched the bridge of his nose. He flinched even harder and stalked off. I might have heard him mutter "I'm fine".

Why was Al acting like this? To be honest, I barely knew him - I mean, it has only been a bit more than a week since our first encounter. Yet so much has happened in those few days, and he had this weird charisma. I somehow felt that I trusted him and I knew somewhere deep inside me that I can rely on him. I liked my arms wrapped around his chest; it felt warm and toasty, like somebody actually cared about me. Well, Louis surely cared about me - he was kind to me, he took care of Oceana for me. But somehow, I didn't feel that same emotion I had for Al, around him. It wasn't a crush, it really wasn't, it was a feeling of being wanted and the feeling that somebody was actually trying to get my attention. But Al was always avoiding me; he seemed like he'd rather hang out with Medusa than be with me, and that hurt a little. Normally, I would not have respected somebody that ignored me, but it felt different this time, like things were about to change... it made me feel so overwhelmed that I didn't know how to react.

Or was it my mind playing games with me? Was it luring me into some kind of trap, and was I going to fall for it? Was trusting the wrong people my fatal flaw?

Al went to refill his cup of butterbeer. In fact, he was the only one, including myself, that hasn't even had a sip of firewhiskey. I liked staying sober, you remembered everything and you get to capture all of the most interesting happenings clearly, without doubting yourself. You also get to laugh at your friends the next day when regarding how stupid they acted.

Besides, I hated the bitter sour taste of alcohol, it stung my throat, leaving it sore and hoarse. And it also played with my mind, making me feel more confident and carefree, leading me into doing foolish things that I would never do if I was sober. If it was risky, or out of my comfort zone - meaning something that I usually wouldn't even consider doing - I shouldn't let my guard down so easily. Worst of all, you would definitely get a hangover. That sick feeling in your gut and the burning, surging, pain in your head, feeling fatigued and tired for the rest of the day- well, it's horrible.

I sidled up beside him and decided to have a butterbeer for myself. He moved away from me again and headed towards Isla, assuming that acting occupied with someone else would stop me from interrogating him with more questions, like a desperate police detective trying to solve the missing puzzle pieces. Though, in all honestly, I still didn't get why I was so worked up about this. _Just let it go, _a small voice in my head insisted.

"Thank you, you know, for stepping in today. It was very brave of you." Al said, thanking Isla.

"It was nothing." She replied, grinning. "Besides, who wouldn't take a bludger for Albus _Potter_." Her voice went an octave higher and considerably more explicit when she voiced the word. She winked at him and started giggling along with her friends. Al simply stared at her. I detected a small sense of melancholy coming from him, but nobody else seemed to have noticed.

"Al, you are so bloody brilliant at quidditch!" Isla babbled on, as Al's cheeks flushed and he started playing with his messy hair. "All thanks to your dad, I'm sure. You must be so grateful to have inherited his quidditch skills! He was remarkable and truly legendary." She spoke bluntly, not realizing that Al's eyes were starting to cloud with disappointment. I shot him a baffled and reassuring look but he avoided my gaze and stared down at his feet.

"You've met Harry Potter?" One of Isla's giggly friends widened her eyes in fascination.

"My dad was friends with Harry Potter." She gloated. Her friends gasped in admiration and awe.

"I dare you to ask Al for an autograph." One of the prodded, still giggling. It was pathetic how they were fangirl-ing over Al's dad. For all they knew, he was probably in his forties and treating Al nicely because he was the son of a 'legend'. It was just _wrong_. They hardly noticed the dejected expression on Al's face.

Despite me feeling slightly protective of him in this situation, I wasn't completely sure why he was so sensitive, or perhaps just sad, about this. What could've caused this? I looked through his personal file the other day and I found nothing relevant that answered my question. I mean, I wouldn't start sobbing even if the Shannon girl walked up to me and proclaimed herself as my half-sister.

But it was Al's last straw. He shook his head, closed his eyes as though in pain, and made his way out of the room. Isla and her friends were still giggling and prattling on, not noticing that he had left.

I glanced around the room and spotted him leaving through the portrait hole. I made to follow him. I didn't know how, but for some reason I already knew where he was going.

A completely drunk Rose pulling me down. "Why are you leaving? We gotta stay here and PARTY!" She shouted, punching the air, looking exulted as the crowd whooped. She clumsily stumbled over as I tried stabilizing her.

"Are you okay, Rose?" I shot her a look of concern. She just rolled her eyes effortlessly and leaped around the dance floor, imitating a 'drunk' ballerina with bad coordination. A few fourth years; of whom McGonagall would've lectured for drinking alcohol if she wasn't comforting a homesick first year to bed, gripped Rose's arm forming a wobbly line of people, dancing along with her.

If Malfoy didn't leave the party so early, Rose would've been threatened - with a picture, perhaps, of her drunk dancing for the rest of her life time. Knowing Malfoy, he would probably taunt and blackmail her, by holding the prospect of sending it to her dad, leaving flyers hanging around in school corridors, or even worse - to ask his posh, fancy parents to publish it in Witch Weekly or The Daily Prophet.

I ran down the corridor towards the kitchen. It was dark and empty, with only a glowing, illuminating candle sitting on top of a supply drawer. As I approached the kitchens, my footsteps made creaky noises, I wondered why Al would want to come here. But I guessed it gave him the personal place, the isolation he wanted, because breaking down in a dorm room with all of your dorm mates watching you can be pretty embarrassing.

I heard a heavy exhale come from under a table as I entered the room. I slowly pulled up the tablecloth, revealing Al sitting with his knees drawn into his chest and his face buried into them.

"C.. Can you go," Al hesitated. "Chloe, please." He repeated when I didn't move. He took a shaky breath and awkwardly wiped away his damp eyes, as though he was ashamed to be on the verge of crying. . It was almost like he found it unmanly to have a mental breakdown in front of a girl, though I knew I couldn't really be a judging party in this situation. I mean, I've never well and truly seen a bloke cry before – not even Jake, really. But with him it was rather different, because he was still pretty young.

"I'm sorry." I said, slightly stunned that those words actually managed to come out of my mouth.

"Y-you don't have to apologize. You did nothing wrong." He seemed pretty perplexed by my apology as well, knowing that my mouth didn't generally speak for itself. But the thing was, even though I didn't intend to say it, I actually kind of meant it this time. It just came out of my mouth naturally and I didn't even know why.

He was shivering, even though I knew he was trying to hide it. I could see the occasional violent spasm that ran through him. "Are you cold?" I shrugged off my cardigan and offered it to him.

He looked stunned for a second, then he blinked. "No, it's fine," he said, trying to sound tough. I intertwined my hands with his as he winced. They were ice cold.

"Here." I sat the warm, woolly material over his shoulders. He was reluctant for a second, but then he pulled it further around himself. He sniffled, almost inaudibly, but I heard it all the same. "Don't cry," I said comfortingly, as he took a steady breath, trying his best not to.

"So what happened back there?" I asked, once it seemed like he was beginning to pull himself together. I tried my best not to sound nosy and to give him personal space if he wanted it, but there was no response. "I'm worried about you, Al." He still didn't reply, just staring down at his feet. I guessed that it took him a long time to open up to people."You can tell me anything," I reassired, hesitantly reaching out, before patting his back. This time, he didn't even twitch and I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. I heaved a sigh and decided to leave.

Just as I started to move, he managed out a quiet plea. "Don't go." He had spoken, but was still avoiding eye contact. So I waited for him, but still, even after a minute, he still didn't say anything else. I was growing a little bit impatient and sighed. "You... you can go if you want to," he suggested, just as quietly as he had been before.

"No, it's fine. If you want me to stay, I will" I assured him, trying to show that I wasn't growing irritated or anything.

"I - I - I -" Then all of a sudden, he burst into tears, catching me completely off guard. He reburied his face back in his knees. I'd never seen him cry like this, but to be honest, I didn't know him all that well.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled after a moment. "I shouldn't be crying. You could leave if you want to - I mean, who cares about me anyway?" He said it in a way that showed he clearly wasn't looking for attention or compliments, but in a way that instantly made me think about his father. I then began to wonder if it had anything to do with it.

"What are you talking about? I care about you, Rose cares about you," I said, slightly bewildered.

"I…I can never be as brilliant as any of them," he muttered despondently.

"I don't get it, you're clearly gifted at Quidditch." I didn't understand why he doubted himself so much. I mean, he was team captain for a reason.

"I'll never be as good as my dad..." He hesitated, and I just stared at him waiting for him to go on. "It's like everyone expects me to be better than him, everyone expects more from me. And because I look like him the most, I'm pressured to do things accordingly and ideally. James is the prankster and the mischievous one of the family, everyone loves him, they find his jokes funny, and my mum adores him. And then I get all of his hand-me-downs, I mean, it's not like I mind, but my mum doesn't bring me robe shopping like how she dedicates and devotes her time for James. I'm fine with it, but I feel like I'm invisible sometimes, I just don't fit in...and then Lily is the only girl in the family. My parents got so excited and all they talked about was Lily for an entire year. They bring her everywhere and my parents give her all the attention she wants. She's a social butterfly and everyone likes her because she's outgoing and fun. I'm out-shined by all of my siblings and I'm not good at anything. Lily's a third year, but she's better than me at almost everything. It seems like James and Lily inherited my parent's talents and achievements, yet all I inherited were my dad's looks, and then I'm expected to act like my dad." He continued, sighing. "Whenever I make conversation with anyone, they seem so enthusiastic, like they expect a lot out of me. It's like I'm getting a head-start or an easy way at making new friends at first, but then, they realize how much of a loser I'm and they get disappointed afterwards knowing that I'm just famous for being his son..."

Everything clicked, like a part of his puzzle piece was solved. This explained and answered some of the questions that I was desperate to know, and it somehow didn't seem like that much of a shock to me, like I always knew but didn't realize until now. Or maybe I just didn't empathize with him?

"Everyone loves you Al, your parents do. Trust me, they might seem like they don't care, but they do. And you're bloody amazing at Quidditch, who wouldn't love you?" I comforted him.

"They just like me because I'm Harry Potter's son..." His voice was barely audible. "I remind them of him, and they treat me really nicely because I'm his son. Most girls like me because they think that they could get power couple of the year or something by dating me." He explained, for some reason, I felt a racy feeling in my chest, like my heart was thumping against my rib cage contentedly.

"They flaunt it." He continued. "And nobody really likes me for being me. But then again, who would truly like someone like me? I'm not good at anything. And even if I was good at Quidditch, people expect it, and they treat it like it's nothing out of the ordinary even after hours and hours of practice. If someone like Nathan scored a goal, he would get triple the praise I get, even when I scored ten goals for the team. Because they expect a lot from me, and I hate how I have to try ten times as hard just to maintain our family's reputation. James was born with talent, but I wasn't. I feel it – he shoots me these glares that say he isn't happy with my ability when I practise at home - even _he _gets disappointed by me."

"Everything takes practice to master..." I started. "I swear, James practices in his free time, he just doesn't tell you. " I put a joking tone in that sentence, hoping that he would vaguely smile, and thankfully, he did. "And don't think too much, he might seem disappointed, but you never know unless he directly tells you. I cheered for you at the stands when you scored your goals, all of the Gryffindors did. You're wrong, if people really only liked you for being Harry Potter's son, I wouldn't be so fond of you." I paused, feeling the heat rush to my cheeks. "I mean," I cleared my throat, "I didn't know who your dad was until people started telling me, and even if they did, I was like 'who is Harry Potter?'." I got a small chuckle from that, so I proceeded. "It's practically only been a week since I've gotten here, but I like you, you're quirky and jocular without trying. You're special, okay, or else, I would've dumped you and ditched you for someone else, finding someone 'cooler', from day one," I joked, and he laughed again. "When you waved at me on the first day I got here, I knew that you were genuinely a nice person, your smiles - they're so real and authentic that it's easy for anyone to like you. Some people like you for_ you_, Albus Severus Potter." I grinned at him, thinking that he would return the grin, but instead, he went back to being depressed all over again.

"Can you not call me that..." He said. It was like he was ashamed of it, I didn't even know why.

"Can you not call me that...?" he pleaded. It was like he was ashamed of it, and I didn't even know why.

"Albus," I said, purposely. "Embrace it. It's part of who you are. And I know that this is the cheesiest thing ever, but you were born with it, there's nothing you can really do about it. So be proud of it." I shot him a toothy grin, pointing at the gap of my teeth. "I've had a gap in my teeth since I was seven. And as you may know, money doesn't grow on trees, so my mum wasn't able to afford braces or some kind of tooth surgery for me. I got teased at school, everyone told me that I should get my teeth fixed, I received mocks from kids my age every day. And so, I went home and weeped my eyes out _every day_." I didn't even pause in my confession, especially considering that this was something that no one other than Kylie knew. He seemed dumbfounded, but I just went on. "But one day I realized, why should I care? Why was I even uncomfortable with it? Was I only crying about it because of what everyone else thought of me? And so I responded to everyone who tried harassing me with the middle finger, or I just ignored them and they got over it. The situation I was in honestly has _nothing_ to do with you, and I might've revealed too much, but I want you to respond with a triumphant grin every time James or his friends treat you the way they do. They would stop doing so eventually, and if they don't, just laugh it off. It's so much easier that way. Besides, they're your family and they're just being playful. Don't take jokes too seriously, even if they go too far."

As cheesy as this might sound, he actually said that he liked my gap tooth, he said that it suited me, which I found surprising. Because I still haven't fully embraced it yet, I mean, I've gotten used to it, but I've never been proud of it. However, he still wasn't induced into fully accepting his name - in fact, he told me just _how _self-conscious he felt about it.

"But I was named after someone else. Isn't it ironic for you to tell me that I should embrace originality and innovation when my name came from someone else?" he asked.

"You were named after someone who was heroic, someone who poured their heart into fighting a villain that was against bloodline equality. Don't you pay attention in History of Magic class, Al? Severus Snape risked his life for your dad, and Albus Dumbledore was a legendary figure that did the same for him. If you weren't important to your parents, you wouldn't have been named after people who were incredibly influential to them." I figured that I needed more than facts and experience to convince Al, and so, I needed him to know something about me, something unusual. Then a light bulb went off in my head. "Just embrace it; at least your name isn't as bad as Chloe Dahlia Finnigan. I'm named after a stupid and unusual flower." Al was now the only person I had told about my odd and hilarious middle name. Even Kylie didn't know. I utterly despised it and was tempted to kill my dad in his sleep for naming me after a stupid flower. I mean, at least Rose sounded nice, but Dahlia just sounded terrible.

"Everybody falls asleep in History class! It's a mystery that you don't drift off too. I get ten minute naps every lesson, before Rose figures out that she's been sleeping too and prods me into consciousness," he jested. "And I know who Severus Snape is. A lot of people tell me about how much of a horrible Potions master he was. Ten times worse than Professor Stark they say. And there goes my self-esteem," he said in mock glumness, as I cackled in amusement. He laughed along with me, and his laugh just made me giggle harder. "And also, I like the name Dahlia. You should embrace it too,' he said, before turning red in the face. We really both had a horrible case of blushing today.

Then we were interrupted."Shouldn't you two be in bed, sir." Al shook his head, and the elf bowed slightly. "Would you like a drink, Master Albus?" The elf offered.

"Thank you, Mimi. I'll have a hot chocolate." He then looked at me. "Make that two," he added.

"My pleasure, sir." The elf scurried away and began pouring boiling water from a kettle into two mugs at a bench nearby. All of the appropriate condiments began floating around the cups and started measuring themselves out with teaspoons. "Here you are, sir," Mimi said a moment later, coming back with the two drinks.

"You can sneak in here for food in the middle of the night?" I asked, surprised and slightly delighted. I guessed I will be coming here whenever I was starving at night.

"Yeah, but you have to look out for professors _or _Rose." He replied, sipping his drink, a milk mustache forming on the top of his lips. I started snickering, and he shot me a look of confusion.

"Rose is pretty serious about her prefect job, isn't she?"

"She always tells me about catching lovey dovey couples snogging in broom cupboards. She emphasizes every little detail of each encounter she has, and I'm just like, I don't want to know," he explained, as I cracked him a grin. "Accentuating and describing what you see isn't going to help on erasing the thought out of your mind. But then Rose rants on and on about finding Malfoy snogging a random girl in a broom cupboard. I mean, for a person that proclaims to hate someone, she surely gabbles on about him. A _lot_."

"I wonder how it feels like to have someone annoy the living daylights out of you every single day. It must be anguishing."

"Oh trust me, it isn't pleasant," he remarked, but there was this amusing twinkle in his eyes, leaving me mystified and wanting to know more.

We just sat there together, sipping on our cups of hot chocolate peacefully and in silence. But it didn't feel uneasy or awkward. It simply felt calm and tranquil, like I was a newborn kitten being caressed, or a newborn child being played with by its mother. I felt my eye lids getting slightly heavier, I was about to fall asleep right when Al spoke up. "I'd like to stay here longer but I've got to take a shower before any of my drunk dorm mates come barging in and making a mess, so I'll see you tomorrow." He got up, waved goodbye and left the room.

I felt a bit disappointed and empty as he left, but I did feel my eyelids starting to weigh down even more, so I decided to return to my dormitory so I could have the rest I needed.

Today was the day when Al finally opened up to me. I finally understood him a little bit more and we actually had a deep conversation. It felt awkward at first; he too was intimidated to say anything; he was a nervous wreck. But as soon as he got comfortable and as he adapted to my presence, he went back to being humorous and witty. Maybe he wasn't as quirky as I assumed him to be, he was possibly just nervous. But why did I feel like there was an on and off button to his personality?

Knowing him felt like I was on a roller coaster, one minute I felt safe, the next minute, I was tumbling down a hundred foot drop or a frightening double loop. One minute he was all agitated and tensed, stuttering helplessly, but still maintaining to be funny; by being quirky. The next minute, he gets all witty and talkative. But which side was the real him? Were their different sides to him? Was he a nervous wreck around everyone? But if he really was, why did he act differently in front of Keira, Rose, or even Wendy? It was so puzzling, I felt so worked up and stressed. But why did I try so hard to break his shell? If he didn't open up to me, why didn't I just let it go? Was it his charisma again? He didn't do anything intentionally to attract my attention, but somehow, I was gravitated towards him. He was interesting and amusing, and I enjoyed solving his puzzle.


	11. Chapter 8: Transformation

The following morning, I woke up to find Wendy's beady, brown eyes boring into mine. She stood superiorly, glaring at me like I was some kind of germ. It looked like she was inspecting and scrutinizing every feature on my face, which was awfully odd. The same could be said about meeting her eyes first thing in the morning, it was something I really dreaded.

"What are you doing?" I mumbled, slightly exasperated and half asleep. She darted away immediately and went off to organize her clothes.

But something was different about her. In fact, it was a drastic, major change. She resembled the innocent girl I saw in the picture; the girl with no makeup or any kind of fake tan on her. Her hair was dyed a dark shade of brown, her complexion a youthful, porcelain pale tone. She was also wearing a tight pair of jeans with a cardigan wrapped around her. The exact same cardigan I wore yesterday. Her style, her hair, she looked like... me.

"What - what in Merlin's name... are you... wearing?" I stammered, pointing at her shirt that widely contrasted from her usual mini skirt and her unbuttoned blouse. It wasn't like I really cared what she wore, I mean, she could be a slut or a prostitute, and as long as I'm not the one arrested for her filthy crimes, I didn't care. But how she dressed somehow really bothered me. Her usual bouncy blonde curls were dyed a rich shade of dark chocolate, her extensions removed and her hair now pin straight, like how I usually wore mine. I wasn't saying that I invented the hairdo I usually wore, but it was like she was trying to imitate how I looked.

"Clothes," Wendy answered snottily. But she normally didn't wear any clothes, so maybe this was an improvement. I just glared daggers at her, really not in the mood for yelling or getting sensitive over something I was possibly hallucinating over. She looked slightly shocked, like she had expected me to start yelling at her. But I guessed proving her wrong was what I liked doing. She then did another one of her annoying hair flips, and this time I was the victim. Every strand of her hair smacked me in the face like blades wispily.

But her hair didn't smell like it was bathed in a pool of artificial flowers. It smelt tropical, juicy and fruity, like my... shampoo. Was that girl trying to get on my last nerve? She has gone completely insane. It was like she was attempting to steal my identity. What good can she find in that? Even if she was, why would she go so far as to use my hair products without my permission?

"Why did you use my shampoo?" I asked, one side of my brain lecturing me in disbelief that I would go as far as to accusing someone of using my shampoo. I mean, how was I so lame to point where I started arguing about bloody shampoo?

"What are you talking about?" She feigned innocence with a persuasive, sugary tone, but I was not that ignorant to the point where I'd get caught in her web of lies and perceiving trickeries.

To prove her wrong, I lumbered towards the bathroom, crossed and expecting to find an empty shampoo bottle rolling around, the remaining conditioner splattered across the bathroom floor or some kind of mess made that she presumed Donna Fletcher would clean for her. But either she was on a roll today in the intelligence department, or Donna has already cleaned the bathroom spick and span for her; my shampoo bottles were positioned accordingly to how they always were.

"Anything unusual?" Wendy faked a look of curiosity, simpering and smirking at me. I frowned at her in resentment. My palms felt sweaty and damp, and I noticed that they were clenched up really tightly. My fingernails were carved in so deep, I thought they were going to leave permanent marks on my skin. I contained my anger by clenching ever harder, resulting in deeper more cavernous marks.

I desperately wanted to feed every last scrap of her to some starving hippogriffs, but what good would that bring? All the good, one of side of my brain suggested ecstatically. You won't have someone annoying the hell out of you every day when you're trying to do something constructive, or when you're sleep deprived and all that you crave is a ten hour peaceful slumber session. And there's also her annoying hair flips that whack you right in the face, and the scent of her floral bacterial stench traveling around the room like spreading fire. But the other side of my brain convinced me to ignore her. At least that was the sensible thing to do, because maybe calling her shallow and airheaded when all I did was judge and criticize her every move might be slightly hypocritical. Realization hit me like a gun shot, sudden and quick, like a flash of lighting. Maybe the matured, more responsible side of my brain was staring to function properly. All this time, I've been acting upon the irresponsible, badly impulsive side of my brain, but maybe listening to the other side was worth a shot; for my own good.

I tried so hard to contain my anger, but before I reacted violently or without forethought, she vanished in a wisp. I growled in irritation and stormed out of the bathroom, changing into my school robes and leaving my dormitory for breakfast.

Maybe that was good for me. I mean, wasn't I the one trying to be mature a minute ago? Everything she did ticked me off and left me boiling with hot fiery rage, but should I really consider my actions more? The talk with Al yesterday left me rethinking everything I did. Although our conversation had nothing to do with Wendy, it left me thinking and pondering deeper, reconsidering my actions, and discovering the depths and the hallows of my mind.

As Potions class rolled around, I was expecting a really irritable and hostile Professor Stark, screaming at those who were not as talented at Potions as Rose or Louis, and giving out random detentions spitefully for the littlest things. But surprisingly, she had a rather contented and jovial mood going on. She was barely as despicable, she didn't give anyone detentions nor did she put anyone down onto her 'disobedience list' that obviously led to detention.

She had a smile on her face; a genuine smile, which didn't shock me more than it startled the rest of my class. Keira, who was sitting next to me today, started getting all gossipy. She started off babbling on about her sneaking off to Hogsmeade with Melinda the other night and having a magnificent date. Speaking of Hogsmeade, this week was our very first Hogsmeade weekend, and I intended to stay in my dorm room all day reading a book or listening to some Muggle music while the rest of my dorm mates were out with their dates. It can honestly be considered the only day I can have some alone time with my bed and my pillows. And then I started to think, what should I do about my dad?

I was pretty exhausted and I really didn't feel like communicating with Keira, so I just nodded and smiled at her, not wanting to come off as the average Professor Stark just because I was tired, though I was a bit curious to know if Keira was really committed to a same gender relationship. I mean, she was really the last person I expected to turn out being a homosexual; not like I have anything against it - I'm fine as long as Keira doesn't sleepwalk and try to make out with me in the middle of the night, thinking I was Melinda.

"We've got to write Professor Kreuk a thank-you card," Keira murmured, a bit dreamy.

"What does this have anything to do with our astronomy teacher?" I asked.

She was about to respond when Professor Kreuk came striding into the room, bouncing and humming, flashing everyone a warm grin. Professor Stark just stared at him expressionlessly, yet the sides of her mouth were twitching slightly into a vague smile.

"Told you!" Keira shrieked.

"Told me what? And besides, why is Professor Kreuk even here?"

"Are you blind? They like each other!" she squealed.

"What in Merlin's name has gotten into you? First Malfoy and Rose and now Professor Stark and Kreuk? Have you gone out of your mind?" I unintentionally raised my voice, realizing two seconds later that Keira was repeatedly telling me to lower my voice while I was distracted and fully engrossed into debating with her.

"Pardon me, young lady?" Professor Stark interrupted, narrowing her eyes at me as if she was actually paying attention to our conversation. Actually, the entire class heard me, while Professor Kreuk was just staring at me, stunned, and for once, he wasn't smiling.

"Um... Profes-" Before I did any explaining, Professor Stark yelled at me and ordered me to swap seats with Albus, so I got stuck with Wendy. Like I need any more reminding of someone who I'm basically trying to ignore.

Al was staring at Wendy, not in the admiring kind of way, but with the phrase 'bloody hell!' written all over his face. I guessed I wasn't the only one who suspected her change in apparel and her newly done hairdo. Al stared from me to Wendy, like he was comparing and trying to spot the differences between us. And let me tell you, the list was so tiny, I had to squint my eyes to see. In fact, thanks to Ms Try-Hard-Wannabe 101, we looked identical head to toe, except, her eyes were dark brown.

It was bizarre, really. Wendy was unwilling to work with me and she was still whining about the fact that I couldn't keep my mouth shut, blaming me for having a smaller and less efficient strategy at trying to get Al to return her affections. I mean, why am I blamed for every single thing, for instance, how much her plan sucked in the first place?

"Can you just leave? I'm better off without you," She declared, arrogantly and pompously. _Like I want to sit with you_, I thought. A side of my brain was like _ignore her, ignore her, don't let her get to you,_ but the other side was buzzing with an urge to scream in her face until every strand of her 'artificial' hair flew upwards like a terrible looking mohawk.

I wanted to kill her on the spot so badly, but I restrained myself from doing so. Well, I wouldn't want to be given a life sentence at Azkaban, would I? I managed to prevent myself from going further than rolling my eyes at her by mentally punching myself. Thankfully, it actually worked. So we proceeded on without making any conversation. She just sat at her desk lazily, her hair spread all over the table, while I just decided to make the potion by myself. Though I would get pretty infuriated if Wendy got credit for what I did, especially because she was sleeping soundly - dreaming of her stupid, unrealistic fantasies with Al, I assumed. A serene and pleasured expression was on her face.

I wanted to grill her and blast loud, ringing music into her ears just to scare her in the middle of her sleep, but she was an 'angel' when she was asleep; I didn't have to talk with her, and she didn't whine, smirk or shoot me any of her hubristic, smug looks. Though keep in mind, I have a different opinion on angels now, they weren't exactly as angelic and pleasant as I used to think they were. I mean, it would've been downright terrifying if she smirked in her sleep, but she could've been a natural.

But because it was a pair project, even if I was reluctant to work with her, I was incapable of producing the potion without her help. I needed someone to fetch me the ingredients while I was combining them. I hated how every time I was partnered up with someone, I felt like I was carrying dead weight; I'd rather work individually.

I shook her awake anyway, pulling on her wrist. But as I grabbed on her wrist, I felt a light trace of an old scar carved near her palm. She jumped violently and scooted away from me, cautiously rubbing the mark on her forearm and shooting me a glare.

"What-" I started as she cut me off.

"Just a cut, I fell. And you know, hit myself?" She seemed a bit uncertain and her statement was irrelevant. I mean, you can't hit yourself and get a cut, could you? I suspected that something was up.

For the whole lesson, she seemed very nervous around me, which was very unlike her. She was normally arrogant and way too confident, yet now, she seemed so self-conscious she resembled a little worm that was wriggling and squirming around, afraid and intimidated, which left me feeling more even skeptical of her weird behavior, and which also led me into feeling more wary of the scar on her left wrist. Whenever she was distracted by something; which was pretty frequent considering that she was very deep in thought, I took it as a chance to have a better look at her wrist.

There were three faint scars gliding across her wrist vertically, like it was scarred and sliced through with a knife. Then it hit me, was she self-harming? Or was she physically abused?

Maybe I despised her guts, and maybe she was the most aggravating, supercilious person in the world, but did she deserve to undergo depression or an urge of actually wanting to kill herself? No. Nobody deserved it, really. It might've had something to do with the fact that both of her parents died in a car crash, or it could've been something else. And I would never admit this out loud, but I started to slightly regret criticizing her and calling her a slag all the time. Maybe it was all an act, maybe it was that barrier/shield she put on every day - maybe it was the mask she used to conceal who she truly was, or maybe she was just a bitch. Either way, I should've minded my own business and ignored her. I've never seriously attempted to kill myself or self-harm, because I knew it was insensible to do so, but I've considered it before. I didn't have the roughest, most distressing past, but I was pretty experienced. And I might've actually empathized with her for once.

I wasn't born into the happiest, most wealthy family. I knew nothing about my father, my mum was irresponsible, short tempered and stressed. And she wasn't capable of taking care of us either, let alone dealing with her own problems, which left me with a huge amount of responsibility of having to manage the family, yet I inherited Mum's clumsiness and way of thinking, which then finally led Jake into doing everything for us. I often felt guilty for relying on him so much, mostly because he was the youngest one in our family.

I was also briefly bullied as a child, so I didn't have the brightest, most blessed, perfect life - with rich parents that could afford everything and bought their children fancy clothes. My mum barely paid me any attention, and if she did, it was to yell at me for something she did. Then there was dad, mostly known as Mr Extensive-Womanizer-In-My-Family. And the fact that I had almost no luck with blokes left me feeling hopeless and despondent about everything. I was too narrow-minded to open my mind about what 'love' truly was, judging by my experience, everyone could say that love would seem stupid to me, but life wasn't a formula, it couldn't be solved or applied to every single situation. There were no rules or limitations, and I had to construct a different equation for everything that I encountered or endured.

I was a pessimist and I was negative about everyone, and I threw criticism in everyone's face the second I met them. And yeah, maybe I needed to change that about myself; maybe that was the reason why I wasn't popular or likable. But then why should I care even if people didn't like me? Or was I supposed to change for my own good?

Then the bell rung and we were dismissed from class, and I was interrupted from my deep pondering.

Keira and Al quickly packed up their stuff and strode briskly towards me, then both trailing behind me as I exited the classroom.

"I told you!" Keira literally screeched in my face. I responded with a look of annoyance. "Those two are secretly dating, okay, I'm definitely sure," she continued, dancing around in euphoria.

"Professor Stark and Professor Kreuk? Our Potions teacher? I don't know, but I can't imagine Professor Stark snogging anyone!" Al muttered, suddenly turning extremely nervous as he met my eye. I mean, was I like an agitation magnet or something? Al was mostly a nervous wreck around me; but there were times that he got use to me and started babbling on and on without being so conscious about what he was saying, and I preferred that side of Al a lot more.

"Can you not put that thought in my head? It's disturbing," I joked, which I immediately regretted as Al turned even more nervous.

"Well if you two are still in denial of it, let's make a bet," Keira announced. I just rolled my eyes at her and decided not to take her seriously. "Let's bet ten galleons on whether or not we catch both professors in the act of either snogging, making out in a broom cupboard, secretly dating, or happily announced as a couple. You in, Chloe?"

"Bloody hell, Keira, for the hundredth time, they're not dating!" I glared at her.

"Don't put me in this, let me just clarify that bets are not my field of expertise," Al commented, then staring at me and getting nervous all over again.

"Come on Al, what are you a Gryffindor for?" Keira challenged as Al just shook his head. "Ha, I knew it! Even Al knows it deep down, that's why he isn't willing to risk any chances. So you in or not?" Keira laughed mischievously.

"I... I'm a Gryffindor. I just..." His words were infused with doubt, and I didn't know why Al was going through the 'I'm worthless' phase again. He looked like he was about to say something to me.

"Look, I don't care about the bet Keira, just get it over with." I replied incautiously, later realizing that I was making the worse decision of my life.

"Alrightie then, I'm about to get rich!" She grinned at me in a Cheshire Cat-like manner and went off cheerily, skipping and humming a melodic tune.

II then turned to Al, who was standing next to me awkwardly, playing with his messy, dark hair. "Umm - I…" he stammered. Which I was very baffled by, wanting to know what he was intending to say. "I was wondering, would you like to go to Hogs-" He hesitated. Then suddenly, Louis popped out of nowhere and hung his arm around my shoulder nonchalantly.

"How are you doing, Chloe?" he asked, sounding a bit mannered and sophisticated in a way, shooting Al occasional glances, like he was checking on him.

"Great. Keira has this weird conception that Professor Stark-" I got cut off hurriedly, which was unlike the usual Louis. Normally, he listened to me gabble on and on about random events in my life even for hours, he never once interrupted me and he politely waited for me to finish speaking before he made a response.

"Yeah, about that, do you wanna go up to my dorm room so we can study for Potions?" he suggested, shooting Al another glance. Al just stared at him emotionlessly, his face twitching slightly into a grimace. I guessed I wasn't the only one Louis interrupted.

"Sure, there was this question that I-" I was cut off again. "Yeah, yeah, we can talk when we get up to my dorm room." Louis interjected eagerly, tugging on my arm which left me with no choice but to tag behind him. while Al just stared at the both of us, as I detected a bit of disappointment coming from him, like he was about to say something really important to me until he was interrupted and left standing helplessly. I had to get back to him later, I reminded myself, he didn't seem really easy about it, maybe it was very momentous or it had something to do with me.

"Louis, don't you have Potions now?" I asked after we reached the entrance of the Head's common room.

"Glad that you remembered, but I'm fine. Professor Stark wouldn't even mind if I skipped a lesson," he insisted, insouciantly, like it was not a big deal, muttering the passcode and guiding me into the common room.

"What do you mean? Professor Stark might be all sunshine and rainbows to you now but if she finds out that you've been slacking, she might take away your privileges as a prefect. She's not nice to everyone, you know," I said, genuinely concerned for him, jumping onto a random beanbag.

"I told you that I didn't deserve my prefect badge." He settled down next to me, yawning and placing his chin on his palm.

"Yes you do, Louis. I've seen you - that determined and serious look on your face. McGonagall isn't stupid, she appointed the right person for the right job..." I said, as he just stared down at his feet, like he was ashamed. "Are you okay? You seem a little…off today." I continued, seeing that he wasn't responding to me.

"I'm perfectly fine, Chloe, what are you talking about?" He purposely knitted his brows together, trying to mimic a puzzled expression, acting like had no idea what I was talking about. But I wasn't convinced. I reckoned that he was trying to hide whatever was on his mind.

Suddenly, there was the grinding sound of rock being moved, and the eagle statue that guarded the Head's common room slid open, spinning around and forming an entrance.

Lucy came roaming in, two of her friends trudging behind her. One with rich brown curls bouncing above her shoulders, crossing her arms, acting like she owned the place, a smirk edged across her lips. But as she turned to Louis, her smugness instantly turned into a scathing scowl. Her other friend was also glaring at Louis like he was some kind of disgusting germ. What I didn't understand was why the seventh years seemed to all despise Louis; he can be a bit annoying about discipline and following rules sometimes, but that wasn't his true self. At least, he never acted that way with me, and he always talked about it like it was some kind of mask he was forced to put on. If he showed his true self, the playful, occasionally cocky, ambitious and competitive side to him, no doubt girls would be swooning like he was their prince charming. And I somehow always imagined him in Slytherin, though not as arrogant or of as much of an arsehole like Malfoy. Or maybe he acted this way for a reason; maybe something happened in his past that I didn't know of.

"We'd better go in," Louis urged. He looked slightly nervous and a bit impatient at first, but I saw this raging flame burning in his eyes, this mild anger that looked like it was going to reignite after years and years of calming down. And it seemed like that girl with the curly brown hair had something to do with his wrath.

"Um…where?" I asked, slightly baffled.

"Wherever." He pulled me into his dorm room and slammed the door shut, locking it and turning towards me, heaving a sigh.

"Are you okay?" I asked again.

"Yeah." He replied quickly, jumping onto his bed as I heard a familiar meow coming from under his blanket. Oceana came crawling out from under the blanket, which was wrapped around him like a cocoon, his head peeping out the end. He looked a bit droopy, possibly from sleep deprivation. I pulled him up and hugged him, caressing his soft fur. It had been so long since I've actually spent quality time with the cat that I was supposed to be responsible for, and I felt really guilty and mad at myself for depending on Louis so much.

"Aww, you sleep with him at night? That's really sweet of you," I teased playfully. He responded with a sheepish smile.

"You weren't supposed to know that," he said, grinning at me.

"So who's that girl you were avoiding? A crush?" I prodded, hoping that I would get more answers considering I've cheered him up a little.

"No." His smile melted off his face, and his tone turned from carefree and fun to serious and this indescribable emotion, something like a tint of misery, a good chunk of fury, and something like remorse or a sense of treachery; like that girl and Louis might've had a history of cold war. I immediately regretted asking him such a question, I guessed she was definitely not a crush.

"I shouldn't have asked you that," I managed, seeming that we were enduring an awkward and somewhat painful silence. Even Oceana seemed to have found the silence as awkward as we did; he just stared at the both of us with a 'what now?' look.

"That girl." It seemed like torture for him just to muster up those two words, like there was this throbbing and eternally aching pain in his chest that stung whenever the memory was brought back. The memory that brought back all the hardship, all the anguish; like his heart was pricked with a needle that left a faint mark which was widening and opening up after years of recovery. "Sylvia Beckham." His oceanic blue eyes lowered dangerously; what used to be warm and dazzling now burning with hatred and distress.

"Who?" I asked. He just shook his head.

"So, what help do you want on Potions?" He changed the subject almost a minute later, which I was grateful for as the awkwardness level decreased by a hundred percent, though it still left me with curiosity.

"Honestly, I'm not struggling with anything." He looked slightly astounded. "You kind of started rushing me and I didn't actually have the opportunity to tell you that I didn't really need your help on anything. I'm sorry..." I finished.

"No, no... I should be the one apologizing, I'm sorry," he said.

"Why are you apologizing? It's fine, and thanks for taking care of Oceana. I think it's time for me to take him back."

"But I wanna stay with him longer," Louis pleaded, pouting. Oceana purred, like he was purring in agreement.

"I never would've expected you to grow as attached to him as you are now. But I can't abandon my responsibilities like that. I promise to bring him back sometime, okay?" I adjusted Oceana's position on my shoulders and headed towards the exit. I waved Louis goodbye.

"Sure, drop him by anytime." He waved back in return, nodding in comprehension.

As I trudged through the Head's common room, Lucy and the brunette - Sylvia - were having some kind of glaring contest. I guessed I mistook the situation. They were never friends, they were just forced to work together as a group.

Sylvia imperiously spoke to me. "Beware of Louis," she whispered, smirking.

"Why?" I asked, perplexed, though her voice seemed so sugary sweet and persuasive, I was one step closer to trusting her until I snapped out of it and remembered her constant smug expressions. Oceana was also kind of giving me hints; he was meowing at me not to listen to her.

"Stupid cat," I heard Sylvia mutter under her breath, whilst scrunching up her face in revulsion. It was the same look Mum gave when we were at Magical Menagerie the other day.

"Don't listen to her!" Lucy warned. Sylvia glared daggers at her. But even without Lucy's warning, I wasn't foolish enough to let a completely random stranger mutter something into my ears and make me a believer.

"Don't worry, I won't," I replied, and Sylvia turned her venomous glare towards me instead. "Well, I'd better get going." I left the common room, and strolled slowly and relaxedly to the Gryffindor common room. I thought about what that Sylvia girl said, _Beware of Louis_, what had she meant? Did he do something horrible to her?

It was a pretty long walk, but since I had two free periods, I decided that it wouldn't hurt even if I took as long as I liked.

Al was sitting on one of the beanbags in the common room, playing with his fingers. Then I remembered, didn't he have something rather important to tell me?

I tapped on his shoulder as he spun around almost a minute later, like he was lost in thought.

About that, it's fine, you know..." Al avoided my gaze as I stared down at him in bemusement.

"What are you talking about?" I queried, my brows knitting together in confusion.

"It's fine, Chloe, I promise." He assured, but somehow, I wasn't a hundred percent convinced.

"No! Albus was going to ask you out to Hogsmeade this weekend!" Keira popped out of nowhere, squealing in joy. I saw Al frown at her. I swear, Keira had this weird magic, or maybe she was just good at eavesdropping and suddenly speaking up when nobody knew of her presence; she always appeared out of almost nowhere and at the worse moments possible, before anyone got the chance to question her about her mysterious whereabouts.

"Obviously not, don't get the wrong idea, just as friends... because you know, you're new here and I would like to show you around," he blurted out nervously, playing around with his hair as Keira smiled warmly and encouragingly, which was pretty strange considering the fact that he wasn't undergoing any kind of fear or challenge, so why did Keira try encouraging him?

"I would love to go Al, but I have to-" I was about to tell him about the meet-up with my father, which I still didn't know if I was either dreading or was excited about. But he cut me off.

"It's fine, you're busy, you've made plans already." He tried sounding nonchalant, but instead, he sounded rather disappointed.

He was getting the wrong idea, but technically, I did have plans, so I didn't object. Keira looked stunned. She gawked at me in disbelief like she thought that I did something really stupid. What did I do?

That night before I drifted off to slumber world, Keira consulted me, saying that it was urgent.

"What did you say that for?" She hissed, almost glaring at me.

"Bloody hell! It's twelve a.m, what do you want?" I mumbled, half asleep.

"Al. He thought you were going with Louis." She hinted, which left me ten times more confounded seeming that I was exhausted and I was having some hearing problems.

"What Louis again?" I murmured, not understanding what she was saying. It was either because I was feeling so sleepy and droopy I wasn't hearing her properly, or she was just speaking nonsense, like she usually did.

"Idiot." She slapped her forehead despondently. "You're hopeless." She jeered, talking to me like I was some kind of failed experiment from a science lab.

"What are you on about?" I grumbled, desperately wanting to make up for yesterday's lack of sleep.

"Never mind." she groaned, stalking off. I narrowed my eyes at her, baffled and annoyed that she interrupted my peaceful slumber session. I was about to fall asleep until she shook me awake with 'urgent' news that she later recalled as something I couldn't know about. I felt slightly irritated, but because my eyelids felt as heavy as a gazillion tons of books. I didn't even bother to call after her.

I was one step closer into entering the magical portal that separated dreamland from reality until I heard Rose begin to chatter jovially with Keira about her secret date to Hogsmeade. She seemed so cheerful and thrilled, and it was so unlike Rose. But she had this smug smirk tinted at the edge of her lips; I could've mistook her as one of Channing's irritating minion friends.

I was so annoyed by her gossipy, Wendy-like actions, I tossed and turned deliberately, trying to hint at her to shut up. But she was so carried away with the chattering, she barely noticed my existence.

Fortunately for me, after a while, she seemed to have decided to take a shower, so I was given the chance to fall asleep without interference.


	12. Chapter 9 (part1): Doubt

** Author's Note: I'm so so sorry for the late update, I've been reading lots recently, i've been catching up on TV shows and I have lots of school work to do :3 And at some point, i didn't really feel like it, i have the entire story plot planned and it wasn't a writers block but i was incapable of coming up with structured sentences and I felt like reading something else (BLOOD OF OLYMPUS!) so yeah, pt2 would be up in like two weeks? a week? depends. thank you again for following, favorite-ing and reviewing :D**

After a week of stress from catching up on spells and charms that I should've learnt in first year, and with Louis constantly being a helpful tutor, I managed to perform half of the charms mandatory for my grade. At least I made progress. I performed expelliarmus without the spell reflecting back at me, and without messing up phrases and casting the wrong spell at people. I memorized weird ingredient names for Potions, and I worked harder by practicing spells whenever I felt bored. That way I wouldn't be coerced into studying for my OWLs at the end of the semester. And honestly, despite the fact that the idea of homework drains away all of my enthusiasm and fascination towards a subject, at least it was more amusing than the subjects we were taught at my previous Muggle school. I mean, what was a cation again?

I was bloody grateful that a partial amount of useless crap - for example, knowing what cations were, was unnecessary for the wizarding curriculum, so I could live without trying to memorize 'important scientific knowledge' that I'd most definitely forget right after I take the test for it. In fact, I would be learning spells that can actually benefit my everyday life. For instance, I won't have to wash the dishes anymore. It's kind of a win-win situation for me, don't you think?

I was so bothered and engrossed by playing around with my wand for the entire week, I didn't even give a second glance at how my face looked blotchy and how my hair looked like a scruffy sewer rat nested in it or something - at least that's what Keira said.

She had always valued sleep and she took roughly two seconds in the morning to dress up, but she somehow still managed to look decent every single morning. And with the extra effort, she was more than pretty, she attracted a couple of ogles from random lads yet she still claims to be fully devoted to Melinda.

It was our first ever Hogsmeade weekend and I felt a sense of nausea swirling in my gut, and butterflies in my stomach. I was still feeling ambivalent about meeting my dad, but why not? I thought. It's not like I will lose anything from seeing him, right? But I still didn't have the appetite to eat too much.

"Hey, maybe you should do something about your hair..." Keira recommended, giving Al a quick glance while chomping down her seventh slice of toast. She was normally not as vain and was very carefree and disorganized, though she was always really annoying about the things she cared about or whenever it was romance related. Taking the fact that she spent an hour this morning trying to look attractive for her date into count, I can say that she cared way too little about the important things in her life, yet she got carried away with addressing and trying to control over the inessential aspects of her life, while instead she was momentous about everyone else's love life. And maybe it had nothing to do with her. Or maybe it was a fatal flaw of hers to care so much, but being romantic and lovesick was kind of part of her, and I guessed that putting two 'soulmates' in the same room together was one of her hobbies, so it wasn't much of an obnoxious or irksome thing she was doing. Besides, her intentions were unpremeditated and she probably just got carried away with what she liked doing, which was very strange if you put it that way. I mean, being amorous and tender - which was also a great thing because she was so loving and sentimental - was more of a personality trait rather than a hobby. She cared for animals and she was always optimistic and open about everything; she was a ball of positive energy most of the time, and that's what I liked about her.

Her hair was groomed into a neat ponytail, her lips painted with a berry colored lipstick and her nails painted the exact same shade, but with a gold french tip.

"For Merlin's sake, I've got nobody to impress!" I exclaimed, and I saw Rose raise her brows in amusement. Al looked at me weirdly, the intensity in his features slowly relenting. He might've been . . . disappointed? It was hard to tell beneath that expressionless stare he gave.

"So who are you going on a date with?" Rose asked sardonically, almost like it was more of a taunt than an actual question.

"Nobody." I answered as Rose and Keira both stared at me nonplussed, confusion etching across Keira's pretty little face.

"What... I thought. But..." She faltered, giving Al a knowing look. Al widened his eyes, alarmed and looking a bit fearful.

"I'm going to go see my d-" I was interrupted by an overly enthusiastic Wendy, though it did feel contrived. She was eager to hide her arrogant nature (at least that's how I see her; and even if I did feel rueful for her loss, and I did contrite being so judgmental to her all the time, and no doubt there are revelations of her's that I don't know about. But she was still conceited and very nerve wracking, so I still despised her guts), but I detected this smug spark in her eyes, like somebody winning the lottery and deciding to rub it in everyone's face, not sparing the homeless a single penny. _Ignore her,_ one side of my brain advised. I closed my eyes shut and avoided her gaze, not even bothering to return a smirk.

"Hi Albus." She said in her usual annoying, sugary voice. Even with her whole transformation, which consisted of her change in apparel; she now wore a burgundy cardigan and a casual pair of tight fit jeans, some things just remained the same about her. At least, she stopped calling him 'Allie', which was way beyond the line for me. But her prissy, screechy voice still pierced my eardrums sharply.

I scrunched up my face in repugnance, turning away and leaving the table wanting to head back to my dorm room. Seeming that my dad was expecting Jake and I at eleven thirty, which was around two hours later; and because I was sick of having to deal with Wendy.

I also made a mental note to go fetch Jake at around ten thirty, knowing that I might end up getting lost which would totally screw up my punctuality. And although I still felt reluctant about meeting my dad, I somehow still wanted to... impress him, perhaps.

But as I was about to leave the great hall, Wendy announced, loud and clear. "I'm going to Hogsmeade with Albus." She simpered like she was directing her statement at me. I froze in my steps. Wendy was successful yet again at grabbing my attention. I spun around, crossing my arms and scoffing. Thinking that it was another one of her notorious lies that I didn't need to bother taking seriously.

"What?" I choked. "You're joking, right?" I interrogated, still managing a taunting chortle, although I felt slightly uncertain, an agitating sense of doubt hovering upon me like black ghost. Al just stared at me, speechless and waiting for Wendy to make a reply.

"Actually, no." Wendy flipped her hair, batting her lashes at Al seductively. I swear, her head was going to snap off one day from her constant and unnecessary hair flips. "Right, Albus?" She said confidently with her sickly sweet shriek-like voice. Rose always told me that I was being melodramatic by exaggerating the shrillness of her voice, saying that my hatred towards her was the main factor of me finding her prissy voice irritating, but I refused to acknowledge Rose. I rolled my eyes at her and told her that she was being ridiculous, knowing deep down that maybe she _was_ right...

Al just gawked at me, not saying anything.

"Fine," I snapped indignantly, storming off. But why was I so mad? Al and Wendy could do whatever they wanted for all I cared; they might as well commit a crime together and get sent off to Azkaban together. But for some reason, I wasn't satisfied with my own reassurance, the word 'together' buzzing in my head like flies. Wendy was a slag, and I didn't want her around Al.

That was right, I'd finally realized why I was so fussed about this. It was the fact that Wendy dated countless amount of blokes at the same time, and I didn't want Al getting involved with her.

No matter how many times I've told myself to ignore her, she somehow managed to creep up behind me like she was grasping onto my shadow. She was everywhere and I didn't know why. She was the deceiving orb of light in a dark, claustrophobic room that turned off when you approached it. As soon as she succeeded at getting my attention, she let me know that it was all a trap, something used just to catch my eye. Then I thought - my dream... was that what it all meant? Wendy manipulating and grabbing everyone's attention, from blokes, to professors, to even me?

She was smug and unpredictably wily, she was a fraud, she always relied on charm-speaking and putting herself out there too much, she did anything for attention and had no dignity or respect for herself. Honestly, I didn't even understand how she was capable of getting into Gryffindor, I sometimes wondered whether the sorting hat was either drunk during the sorting or too old for the job. That also explained why Nathaniel Edgecombe was in Ravenclaw, he was nothing but a imbecilic scumbag, not a book loving, witty Ravenclaw. The sorting hat sorted people inaccurately or perhaps it was too generous on letting unsuitable people get into the house they desired and idealized themselves to be in, taking a student's personal choice too much into count. I mean, I was offered Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and everyone would know what a chaotic mess that would've been.

I tried shaking the thought off but I ended up growling and groaning in disgruntlement. I was not going to let Wendy take over my system like I was some kind of robot to her. I didn't even know how she did it, she was competent at manipulating and aggravating everyone. From people to people, she pulled wicked stunts on people making me forget the human side to her, in fact, it rarely crossed my mind. The self conscious side to her, I had this vague thought that it was somewhere deep under her armor of confidence. After all, even though I was in denial and it was really hard to believe, she was human. Or maybe not, a part of my brain kicked in. The other side was murmuring in a hushed tone, hypnotizing me, _you're just in denial, _it said._ Admit it. _My mind was countering with so much debate I felt like it was going to explode.

"Are you okay sis?" I heard a familiar timid voice question me. It was Jake, he was tapping me on the shoulder. "Are you okay?" He repeated, concerned.

"I'm fine." I replied really quickly, nodding deliberately, wanting to cower up in a corner and and scream till my lungs bursted.

I expected him to say something like "No, you're not." being the caring and perceptive younger brother he was, but instead, he actually believed me. "Okay." He said indulgently. "I saw you storming off and when you start getting cranky." He hesitated, thinking that I was going to express my anger towards him instead; which I obviously won't because I was supposed to 'take care' of him, not yell at him for no reason. "It's not really a good thing, so." He continued.

I just nodded. "Yeah. Wendy." I heaved a sigh, rolling my eyes and looking away.

"What's up with her?" His brow knitted together. "The girl that kind of looks like you?" he asked, careless of his words, which was so strange because he was normally very calculative and he read my mind so easily it was surreal. But now, he seemed a bit carefree, and I guessed he was starting to inherit mum's attributes - he even looked an awful lot like mum when he did that thing with his brows.

"No," I snapped. "I mean, yes, but ughh-" I growled, turning away. He usually understood me much more and I felt a bit disappointed. Maybe Hogwarts wasn't just changing me, it was changing him too.

"I'll just leave you alone." He said it like he was intimidated by me, and it hurt. I might've been unreasonable or crabby at times, but he seemed downright scared, and something was up with him. It wasn't just him evolving as a person, it was something else. He changed, he wasn't the same insightful and coy little boy I grew up with, we were starting to lose each other, I felt it, and that thought stung me in realization and pain. He used to be the only one other than Kylie who was capable of comforting me and cheering me up, yet now, I felt distant from him. I only met him once a week, and he found his own friends, he found the place he belonged in, and I grudgingly admit that I might've felt a little bit jealous of him and his friends. He used to be the one who read me off like I was a flashcard, now, I was the one getting all thoughtful and reflective.

He turned to leave as I reminded him "Meet me at ten thirty in the Great Hall, okay?" He nodded briskly and left me alone, sighing and heading to my dorm room.

But my dormitory was fully occupied with an excessively diligent Donna, pacing around the room with concentration, organizing Wendy's stuff like she was some kind of slave trying to impress her. I really didn't understand why she stuck around with Wendy for so long; if I was employed to be Wendy's maid, which I obviously expected to be paid for, I would've been a goner right after I signed my contract. I mean, Wendy treated her like shit and Donna seriously deserved better. It wasn't like she was truly contented to work for Wendy - nobody would want to work for someone full time without even getting a salary, am I right?

She then got all defensive towards me, threatening that if I laid my hands on a single strand of Wendy's hair, she would - what, use the Cruciatus curse on me? She'd get sent to Azkaban just for defending someone that couldn't care less about her.

She then started stuttering and losing the defiance and confidence she had in her tone. I suspected that she admired Wendy for her confidence, but Wendy is leaning more towards the arrogance scale more than the modest self-accepting side. I mean, Wendy was just plain arrogant. If she had actual confidence, she wouldn't rely on concealing her true self; she would embrace it and be a more modest person.

Chloe, stop criticizing her. What are you going to get out of that? my mind scolded repeatedly. I felt like pulling my hair out, so I just stormed out of my dorm room, not knowing where to go. I desperately needed some personal space, and some random sidekick taunting (honestly, it's almost offensive to say that she was actually trying to get to me) and blackmailing me wasn't something I wanted to deal with at that moment.

So my dorm room was not an option, the great hall was obviously not even an option. And the toilets? I I went through a long list of options in my mind, knowing that none of them were valid options and sighing for the hundredth time that day, feeling hopeless and annoyed with everything. I encountered so many people, especially cheery ones; who ticked me off even more because negative plus positive equaled to even more negative; and considering that I was the negative, knowing that I was all pessimistic and all, and everyone else (Slytherin doesn't count by the way) was the positive, seeing people with smiles on their faces just made me feel worse. Jolly people were literally inevitable, I mean, I felt like I was captured in a room with positivity and energy rippling off a hundred Keiras, while I just tried my best avoiding them and ending up bumping into another ball of energy. Spiritual isolation was almost impossible at Hogwarts, I mean, what do people do when they need personal space? Use a spell perhaps? That option could've worked if I knew more about magic.

Then a light bulb went off in my head. The kitchens. Albus was probably thinking the same thing that day at the Quidditch celebration party.

Thanks for the idea, Al.

But the thought of Al just left me pondering deeper into thought. He was probably already at Hogsmeade with Wendy smothering him with kisses; red lipstick smeared all across his face like he was a blank canvas with dirty paint residue staining it. The thought disgusted me. He was definitely not going to come find me and comfort me with kind words - he was having a good time with someone I loathed, enjoying every single minute of his life.

I sighed yet again, entering the kitchens and crawling to hide under a table, hoping that even the house elves wouldn't be able to locate me. I needed absolute privacy. The mere thought of someone as innocuous as an elf irritated me. I wanted nobody to find me, but at the same time, I wished Al was here. I was even annoyed with myself for being so confusing, what was that all about? Al is not here! He's off somewhere with that stupid slag. You lost, she won. I buried my face into the sleeves of my cardigan. I wasn't even crying and, no, I'm not in denial; my sleeves didn't feel wet. I just felt so annoyed to the point where I didn't feel like screaming or wasting my energy.

_You're worthless, Al never liked you._ Wendy's provocative voice chimed in my ears as I pictured her in my mind, sneering evilly, her eyes gleaming venomously. It was like she had the ability of telepathy.

_This isn't a game, Chloe, what are you on about? You never lost, she never won. Be strong. _One side of my brain encouraged me. But my mind was contaminated with so much pessimism, I instead, felt discouraged and despaired.

I wished that I had someone with me. Maybe it was selfish and dependent, and I was always treated with so much care and love, that I took for granted. Jake used to be there for me all the time, while Kylie and her parents regarded me as family. And no matter how crap my life was, I always had someone. But now; the bridge, the strong bond I builded with Jake seemed to be collapsing and breaking down. And I use to have these five hour long phone conversations with Kylie every weekend, but Hogwarts didn't seem like a place with reception.

Even if I did meet new people, Hogwarts still didn't feel like home to me. Louis and I talked and related a lot, he was an ideal brother figure. And I was grateful for everything but it didn't seem right. My dorm mates were also very generous to me (excluding Wendy, that is) and Albus, well... he was special in a way, yet I didn't know what to say about him. He was also very unpredictable for some reason, one minute he was a nervous wreck and he avoided me, and the next he openly shared so much information with me that it was startling.

I desperately wanted someone's accompany, I wanted Al to sit next to me and encourage me, I wanted him to offer me a cup of hot chocolate and smile at me with that genuine million dollar smile of his. And I knew that I was being weak and useless but I didn't care anymore. I didn't even know why Al was the one I desired to be with, not Rose, not Keira, but Albus. I should've been independent and strong. but at that point I didn't even bother.

After almost an hour of crouching down, bending on my knees and curled up in a timid little ball, I realized that Al was never going to come. So I heaved a sigh, checking the time on my watch and finding out that it was already eleven. I reluctantly stood up shakily and wobbled around, heading towards the Great Hall and greeted by Jake.

"So," he began, pacing around nervously. "Are you excited?" A pang of disappointment hit me hard. Judging by how teary-eyed I looked, I expected him to understand much more. I thought he would've asked if I was okay, comforted me or told me that everything was going to go well, like how he always did, but he didn't.

He is really changing, I thought, heaving another sigh. And maybe I just got too use to having someone with me, always being the centre of somebody's attention, that I didn't even realize that I was being selfish too. I hated myself. Why couldn't I just accept the fact that everybody's company was temporary, my brother, my friends - none of them would stay with me forever. All I had was myself.

I just hated how I was starting to doubt myself so much. I've always been sensitive, but I normally didn't get affronted that easily. At least I used to tell myself that I didn't care.

"Are you okay?" he asked. At least he wasn't as dense as I thought.

"Yeah I'm fine," I replied monotonously, knowing that it was now my turn to take care of Jake. _I can't show weakness_, I reminded myself.

He just shrugged nonchalantly and proceeded to stride along the corridor, his footsteps light like a feather, like the pacing of a quiet little mouse. At least that didn't change about him. I smiled to myself, feeling my heart warm up a little.

Soon enough, we were at the Hog's Head waiting for my dad to show up. We were ten minutes early, so I just settled down on a stool.

The Hog's Head was clustered with different people, varying from age to gender. Everyone was chattering profusely and cheerily while I just felt like I was drowning in this pool of negativity. I just hoped that my encounter with my dad would lift my spirits up a little. I hoped that this wasn't going to make me feel worse, or today would seriously be the crappiest day I've ever had at Hogwarts.

Then suddenly, I heard the sliding of a stool against the rock hard pavement, a warmness vibrating from the figure. It was my dad.

Jake and I just stared at him awkwardly as he greeted us with a sunny grin.

I was eager to respond back with a grin as warm and friendly but the frost took over like I was cursed by the Snow Queen.

"Who's Shannon?" I snapped, hostile as Jake widened his eyes at me, looking slightly bemused and a bit worried that I was going to lash out and ruin everything. Which I couldn't do, because I wasn't going to be selfish again.

"Just like your mother," I heard him mutter quietly, a smile playing on his lips and a tinge of disappointment etching across his features that were so familiar, possibly thinking back to the time when he and Mum were together. It was hard to believe.

He looked partially like me. In fact, I might've inherited a lot from Mum but the look I saw on his face reflected the expression I saw in the mirror every single day. No doubt I had his eyes.

"Well, Shannon is my daughter," he simply replied as I contained myself from rolling my eyes.

"So you really did cheat on my mum?" I scoffed dismissively, unintentional. As Jake nudged me which irritated me even more. _He was supposed to be understanding_, I thought. _No, you're just being a selfish bitch, get your shit together, _the other side of my brain cut in. I slammed the table in anger as the bartender turned his attention towards me.

"Anything to drink, mis?" He asked like I slammed the table to call for his attention when really, I was just mad.

"Three butterbeers please." My dad said, ignoring me like he knew the best way to react without unleashing my exasperation even more. In fact, if he started talking to me, I would've gotten even madder. Maybe he knew me more than I thought.

We were sitting in silence sipping on our butterbeers, dad didn't seem impatient, he was playing with his fingers.

"So." Jake said, hesitating slightly.

"Well Jake, how should I start?" Dad asked himself as I just stared at him emotionlessly, not showing a spick of emotion. When truthfully, my insides were churning uncomfortably, either in rage, bewilderment, agitation, possibly fear, even. It was always hard for me to conceal how I genuinely felt, but surprisingly, I found it easy this time. At least nobody questioned how I felt. I felt my emotions lurking around the pit of my stomach to the tip of my toe, it stung.

Dad cleared his throat. "So how's school?" He spoke up, sipping on his butterbeer as a layer of foam formed on his upper lip.

"Pretty well, I guess. I've made new friends and I've been enjoying my time here." Jake replied. Normally, he didn't open up to people that easily but he was probably just attempting to drain the void of awkwardness surrounding us. And I had to keep in mind, he was our dad, Jake _should_ feel comfortable talking to him.

Dad just flashed him another one of his warm smiles and took another sip from his butterbeer. One thing I didn't inherit from my father was his optimism and cheeriness, I never smiled, and most of the time, my features were etched with a frown. Well, let's just say that being pessimistic was one of my fatal flaws. I mean, I hated sugarcoating, faking or plastering a smile on my face when I felt dejected. And if somebody hated me for seeming aloof all the time, they have to realize that the smile they plaster onto _their _own faces weren't always genuine either. Or else, there's nothing else I could do. I would hate to give everyone a reality check, and purposely impressing people wasn't really my thing, that was Wendy's strong suit.

"That Natalia friend of yours," Dad - it still felt strange calling him Dad - said. Jake just nodded at him.

"If I'm remembering this correctly, her father was in his seventh year when I was a first year." He heaved a sigh. "Gee, was he strict... he was extremely devoted to his prefect job, he docked points off anyone who was not in bed one minute after curfew."

"Natalia is everything like him,' Jake said. 'She tattletaled on me when she found me sneaking into the kitchens for food. I mean, those house elves are brilliant cooks! So much for being a friend of mine, she reported it to McGonagall and I got detention! I can't believe her." Jake rolled his eyes.

"Well, one day, I snuck out of bed during curfew for food. I guess we do have lots in common," Dad chuckled. "I sat near this cupboard, munching on pistachios when Jonathan, Natalia's dad, heard the crunching of my teeth when he was patrolling the corridors. I got a week worth of detention for it, and well, I made a mental note to cast a sound-proof charm the next time, and surprisingly, it worked. I didn't blast any pots or pans and I didn't get caught!" he continued, starting to sound enlivened.

"You would've made a great Ravenclaw too." Jake jetted, a smile forming at the edge of his lips. _Dad's cheeriness was contagious to Jake, but not to me,_ I thought.

"Ravenclaw? No..." Dad laughed it off. "Me, a ravenclaw? No, Jake." It was the first time Jake was addressed by his name, and I felt this aura of happiness and delight rippling off him. Jake chortled, gulping down a mouthful of butterbeer, a layer foam forming on his upper lip. He looked a lot like dad. Replace Jake's dark hair with a lighter shade of brown, dot freckles across his cheeks and there you have it! I thought.

While dad and Jake were cheerfully prattling on about their experiences at Hogwarts, I just sat on my stool, not speaking a word. In fact, they seemed to have completely forgotten about me, and I was fine with that. I just stared at the both of them, watching the laughter vibrating and the grins on their faces. Jake never smiled when he was with me. Was it because of my constant scowls and frowns? Was it because I never treated him right? Was I a horrible big sister? Although the three of us sat together, I felt excluded and isolated. I felt alone. I felt drowned in the middle of all the laughter, I didn't feel part of it.

Jake was really changing. He used to tag behind me like the timid little brother he used to be. Yet now, I felt like our bond was collapsing, we were starting to grow apart, we were separating and heading towards different directions. He seemed a lot happier, and maybe it was because he was not around his source of depression and negativity - me. Maybe I should avoid him, that way he would grow up untroubled, joyous and released from the pool of negativity I was drowning in. He was too young. He shouldn't get involved with any of my problems, they were mine to solve, not his.

Jake shouldn't have to grow up worrying about anything, he was only eleven. And it was incredibly irresponsible of me to depend on him all the time. He wasn't an object, he was also human. I should've been more considerate, I should've learned to understand how everyone else was feeling. For most of my life, I was selfish, I only cared about myself and it was time to turn the tables.

***** bad way to end, and i know this isn't my best best work, but i'm trying. for some reason, i just couldnt type properly this week. i have the idea sorted out but i just dont know how to express the entire thing without chloe getting mad again, after telling herself to be sensible. it would make her a despicable betch and i don't want that. **


	13. Chapter 9 (part2): Hogsmeade Encounters

**Author's Note: I'm SO SO SORRY for the late update. I've been reading a lot lately, I'm totally and utterly in love with the throne of glass series DOLAENA ALL THE WAY YOU HEAR ME DOLAENA NOT CHAOLAENA! Anyway, I'm finally done so here it is, after 3 weeks, I truly suck. PS: i've also been starting to read Game of thrones since im in love with the show, and yes, every book seems like crap after reading this series, i love jon snow and margaery tyrell ;) k so happy reading.**

I felt guilty, guilty for bashing on my dad like that. I didn't fully understand anything, yet I lashed out on him completely without letting him to clarify everything. I was wrong, and I obviously wasn't going to admit that out loud.

Dad gabbled along with Jake, and once I calmed down, he decided to explain everything. At first I was hesitant and I refused to even listen to him, but the remaining sensible side of me was buzzing with curiosity and I couldn't reprimand.

Apparently, I was fed with lies for my whole life, and mum was partially responsible for getting me into this mess. But my mind was contaminated with so much bafflement and confusion, it was hard to take in everything while screaming my head off in rage and blaming everything on mum. So I just sat on my stool, listening to dad elucidating everything without unleashing excessive anger.

According to dad, Shannon wasn't a random child that belonged to a whore, she was the daughter of a deceased cousin that he adopted... He treated her like an actual daughter because he felt culpable for not raising Jake and I, saying that it was a new opportunity for him to prove himself as a person capable of loving. I couldn't believe myself, I was an ignorant fool. I judged him, I assumed that he was promiscuous and maybe even nefarious, someone who treated everyone horribly. But I was wrong, in fact, I based my opinion on erroneous assumptions, I got so carried away and I didn't spare myself any time to think over the fact that I was getting too carried away into the wrong direction.

For a second, I just gaped at him in disbelief, my eyes widened and my mouth hanging open. But then it hit me, I thought too much, I had a bad habit of thinking pessimistically and thinking too far, imagining worst case scenarios and dreading them before they even happened. Without realizing that I was stressing over a fallacious event that didn't even occur. And I actually had the guts to hate Shannon, I was jealous and mad without confirming and analyzing through actual facts. And that made me feel ten times worse. Shannon did nothing to me, I barely knew her. She was just an innocent, poor little girl who lost both her parents and who my dad adopted. She looked like my dad because they were blood related, he was her uncle, biologically speaking. And I made wrong assumptions with wrong facts. She went through so much and yet I reacted insensibly and impulsively, always demanding for pity and attention while judging everyone else.

I was a horrible person, and I didn't deserve anything. I hated myself.

"Chloe, I hope you understand." My dad said, comfortingly.

I shook my head, burying my face in my wooly cardigan sleeves and letting everything out. "I'm sorry." I sobbed, tears gushing my face like a waterfall. Normally, I would've hid myself under a table or dashed into a washroom cubicle to avoid everyone else. Well, _normally_, I would've huffed, unsatisfied and stomping off. Being the selfish bitch I was, I would've ignored everyone and waved a 'i'm feeling dejected, cheer me up!' banner deliberately without being aware of my Wendy-like behavior. I was just _that_ dense.

Although crying was a sign of weakness, and it would've made me felt worse if people witnessed me weeping my eyes out like a little baby. At that point, nothing mattered. I felt useless, I doubted myself fully and I would've casted the cruciatus curse on myself because I just hated myself _that_ much.

"I shouldn't've judged you like that, I knew nothing." I whined, desperate for air, trying to steady my breathing pace. "And the fact that it wasn't even your fault that you had to leave." I faltered. "It was all a misunderstanding." I managed before break down completely, tears prickling my eyes like thorns and gashing down my face like hot lava. I exhaled loudly and nearly choked. Everything in my life was a complete mess, it was haphazard. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't feel like analyzing or thinking through the situation. I just wanted to cuddle up in a corner and cry my eyes out, _and yes, I did feel weak and useless. _

Jake was staring at me, nonplussed, while everyone else were too busy drinking their butterbeers to notice me. And up until that point, I felt embarrassed, I thought that everyone was going to laugh at me sardonically and taunt me. But I was wrong, nobody cared. I wasn't important, and I told myself all the time that impressing people wasn't my thing, but if I really didn't care, I wouldn't've minded even if people mocked me and called me a crybaby. That was just immature, something a pre-schooler would've told me.

"Hey, hey, don't say that." Dad patted me reassuringly. He seemed very understanding, and although he didn't have the ability of mind-reading, he knew what I meant by 'I'm sorry for judging you'. Mum must've asked him to prepare for this, or maybe he was just gifted at knowing the right thing to say to people at the right moment. _Mum,_ I sighed. I really didn't want to think about anything right now. Why my father left, how it was all a misunderstanding and how my mum reacted irrationally when dad broke the news. She felt guilty and mad at herself for ruining our futures, but she was stubborn. She didn't want to apologize or acknowledge her irrational behavior, instead, she kept it all in. And although my mum's lack of coherency was blame worthy, it wasn't entirely her fault. And even if it was, blaming her for everything that has happened won't do me any good. I just had to figure it out and react sensibly. Which was very hard to do at this state of my mind. My thoughts were all muddled up together, perplexing and nerve wracking for me to entangle the knots for. I felt like I was trapped in a maze, a maze that was problematic and impossible to resolve.

With my mind processing through different thoughts, I blew my nose and gulped down some butterbeer to clear my throat. It soothed me a little but unfortunately for me, things worsened twice as much almost immediately...

Feeling mentally broken down and looking teary-eyed, Al and Wendy just had to amble in at this momentary instant, it felt like somebody sprinkling salt into my wound. _So much for having a great day,_ I thought enthusiastically.

Wendy had her arm hung around Al's shoulders, while Al just stood next to her awkwardly. For a second, he was glancing at me and my dad, looking flabbergasted.

Rose and what seemed like Adrian Coleman, Malfoy's aggravating, worshipping sidekick, came striding in behind Al and Wendy, hand in hand. Keira would've been squealing in joy right now, rating Rose and Adrian's compatibility and jumping around in ecstasy. Gratefully, she was off somewhere with Melinda, and seeming that I was at a miserable state, I didn't even bother.

I mean, sure, Adrian hung out with Malfoy, but if Rose really liked him it shouldn't concern me. If he really was a douchebag or a pain in the arse, it would teach Rose a lesson.

Then Wendy cracked a lame joke as she and Al started chortling together like they were some kind of romantic lovey-dovey couple on their anniversary. _Giggling,_ I mean. The thought disgusted me, I was literally cringing and shuddering in odium.

At first, Al looked like he was urgently avoiding me, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of me crying and being a bitch about everything, he just _had_ to walk over and act like he cared whilst he was busy returning Wendy's affection. _Like that was going to make me feel any better._

"What happened? Are you okay?" Al said sounding genuinely concerned, his emerald green eyes boring right into my eyes as I felt my insides churn. Then Wendy peered over, crossing her arms and simpering. For a second, I felt reassured and normal again, I didn't know how Al did it. But Wendy totally ruined it for me, I was at the verge of sabotaging her.

"Don't bother, your date is looking rather unhappy, go feed her words of comfort instead." I snapped.

Before Al could've responded, Louis came strolling in with this beautiful girl with luscious blonde hair, her apparel was casual yet she managed to rock it seeming elegant and classy in a way. She was Louis's sister, Victoire. Trailing behind them was this guy with neon teal hair, it was changing from time to time from blue to red to even pink. A rather feminine choice for a male, I thought.

It was funny how everyone was walking into the Hogs Head's at the same time. Who was next? Keira? I hope not. It was one of those days were I dreaded any form of optimism, I just wanted to cower up and cry my eyes out. Having dad around was enough.

For some reason, Louis seemed slightly nervous and bashful. Victoire was muttering something into his ears, whispering to him like how gossip girls did. While Louis eagerly tried to seem nonchalant, shrugging. Victoire shot me an odd look, something between a wink and a scowl; which was awfully confusing. I just responded with a forced smile and wiped away any tear streaks on my face.

"Are you okay, Chloe?" Louis asked me, concerned, as I detected a slight smirk playing at the edge of Victoire's lips. I shot her a weird look as she covered her mouth trying to conceal her devious snickers. She turned away, saying something to the guy with vibrant hair.

"I'm fine." I replied, forcing on a weak smile that hopefully didn't come off apathetic.

Then Al came closer, lightly reaching out, patting me on the back like I was some kind of delicate animal.

"Are you sure?" He asked, concerned as I saw Louis's bold features twitching into a grimace.

"Didn't you hear, Albus? She said she was fine." Louis snapped disdainfully, his tone icily bitter.

Everyone turned their gaze towards Louis in disbelief, incredulous and stunned by Louis's cold remark. Louis glared at them, gasping in revelation as he plastered a smile on his face. Everyone other than Victoire, looked as shock as a bird landing on live wire. Victoire rose her eyebrows in amusement, crossing her arms and relying on a banister to carry her body weight, looking rather relaxed.

"I was just asking..." Al recoiled nervously, his concern for me turning to agitation. He seemed like he was slightly intimidated somehow.

"You don't have to." Louis declared authoritatively, it was so strange seeing him speak like that. He was normally much more gentle and kind, not harsh, haughty or defensive over me like I was _his_ property. It seemed like he was fighting over me with Al like I was some kind of twisted prize; and Al wasn't twice as committed in arguing with him than Louis was. In fact, Louis seemed ambitious and almost _jealous_, while Al was timid and slightly frightened by Louis. But jealous over what? I never got to know.

Victoire was snickering, covering her mouth politely so her laughs didn't sound like barks coming from some kind of uncivilized, hungry hyena.

Rose was chattering with Adrian in an isolated corner of the bar, her bright red dress camouflaging with her hair that was equally as red. While Adrian was laughing with her, his usual smirk replaced with an actual smile. He was also staring at her like she was the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. The dreamy, envious look Channing had on when she was admiring Malfoy's 'handsome' features; which Keira also called the look of true love. Keira then babbled on and on about how rare true love was, I nearly vomited out my intestines. Though Rose didn't seem to be returning that look of 'true love' Adrian was shooting her, she was chortling along with him like they were close friends; which I still found awfully weird, I mean, I've never seen them talk before. But at least they both looked happy.

Then at that very moment, Malfoy came striding in with Zabini. They were laughing about taunting first years they pulled pranks on. But although he was guffawing like an idiot, a vague smirk still played around the corners of his lips, later fading and melting off his face as he caught a glimpse of Rose and Adrian getting along.

He looked so astonished he probably thought he was hallucinating or imagining things, thinking that by blinking repeatedly, he will wake up in bed discovering that this was all a dream. But ten seconds later, he was still standing there with Zabini right next to him, simultaneously shocked.

After almost a minute of standing, frozen and not saying a word, he opened his mouth like he was going to say something, closing it and opening it again like a dumbfounded goldfish. "Wha." was all he was capable of saying.

What I didn't understand was how his trademark smirk had vanished utterly, not leaving a single trace. He looked like a completely different person. The second unusual thing was how everyone came stumbling upon the Hog's Head at this particular moment, it seemed almost too coincidental, like it was some kind of fairytale gone wrong because of the lack of happy endings; well, I guess Rose and Adrian were having a good time. I seriously suspected that Keira was going to show up any minute.

"What in Merlin's name-" Malfoy was lost for words, he was still gaping at Rose like she murdered someone. While Adrian was too distracted and compelled with the conversation that he hardly noticed Malfoy's presence. Normally, he would be trailing behind and swooning over him like he was truly in love with him, worshipping him and calling him his king. But today, Adrian seemed so diverted by Rose he would've been fired if he was hired as Malfoy's loyal servant; he was completely caught off guard.

When Adrian finally improved on the perception department, realizing that Malfoy was gazing at him dubiously, the look of relaxation and happiness slid off his face, in exchange for a look of paranoia, menaced that Malfoy was either going to kill him on the spot or slyly punish him for not serving him 'loyally' later on.

"BLOODY HELL!" Malfoy usually tried to seem nonchalant and calm but for once, like it was hard for him to look anything but smug, but for once there was actual emotion burning in his eyes, he actually seemed afflicted. I've never really seen him look genuinely mad, he always had this effortless smirk on his face like nothing in the world truly bothered him. He tried biting back his angered words but instead, his face ended up twitching painfully like he was trying to smile with Botox inserted into his cheeks. "WHY THE- WHY IN MERLIN'S NAME ARE YOU- ROSE BLOODY WEASLEY? ARE YOU INSANE?" Malfoy yelled, almost like he was wailing in agony, like the thought of Rose and Adrian together pained him. Infuriated, his ashy pale face turned deep purple in rage, his usual settled and blithe expression wincing and turning into a scowl. While Rose was standing in a corner, simpering triumphantly.

"I..I" Adrian stuttered, his face twitching with slight terror. "I don't owe you anything." Adrian gathered up some confidence and said. Everyone stared at him in shock, even Rose looked shocked.

"You what?" Malfoy's brows knotted together in bewilderment and rage.

"I'm sick and tired of being friends with you. You use me like I'm some kind of tool to you, yet you treat me like I'm a little shred of dirt on the back of your shoe." Adrian declared with newfound confidence. While Malfoy was gaping at him with his mouth hanging open, even Rose seemed nonplussed.

_That wasn't part of my plan._ Rose had pulled me into a dark, isolated corner and said in a hushed and restrained tone.

"What plan?" I muttered, a slight tinge of sadness and negativity still circulating in my veins after everything that had happened. She shushed me.

"I mean, Adrian isn't a horrible person, he's actually quite decent." She begun as I shot her an odd look. "Look, I don't know why I did it or even what I did but after seeing Channi-" She hesitated for a second. "I don't know why I invited Adrian out, or even why he said yes."

"Clearly because he likes you." I scoffed as it was blankly obvious, a bit irritated by her blindness and ignorance, still craving some alone-time, which was clearly impossible right now considering the amount of people I knew stumbling into the Hog's Head at this instant.

"He what?" She actually looked surprised.

"Keira even has this weird conception that you and Malfoy secretly _love_ each other." I added sardonically. I mean, Adrian liking Rose was somewhat of a no-brainer, something even a five year old would be able to identify, but Malfoy and her 'fancying' each other was something even I didn't believe, and I just pointed it out as a jokingly taunting remark, hoping that by joking around, I could maybe manage to drain away a little bit of the dejection I was feeling at that moment.

"WHAT? NO I DON'T!" She rose her voice.

"Shush." I reminded her. "You don't have to be all melodramatic about it." I cackled, a rush of cheeriness brushing past me just for one brief second, a second where I forgot everything that I've dreaded or fretted about in the past.

"WHAT?" She demanded, her eyes gleaming in exasperation.

I laughed, her dramatic response was quite amusing. "It was a joke." I reassured, seeming that she sounded so serious she almost seemed like she was going to bite my head off in rage.

Since she didn't seem very assured, I patted her on the back, almost sarcastically, heading back towards my dad and Jake.

Seeming somewhat cheery, dad assumed that it would've been the perfect moment to start conversation with me, not knowing that this strange glee that was running through me was so temporary to the point where the smile slid off my face just as he started talking. "So? Boy trouble?" Dad chuckled as I shot him a look of disgust. Boy trouble? What was he on about? "When I was your age. Dean was going out with Ginny, and Harry, unintentionally I guess, kept sending him these evil glares. It was pretty hilarious if you ask me."

I didn't know what was wrong with me but I started getting crabby all over again "And why are you telling me this?" I said as the hues of delight and mirth sparkling off him like glitter slowly relented.

"I thought..." He said.

"Never mind." I muttered as Louis shot me a look of concern, I responded with a weak smile, my eyes swelling up from all the excessive crying.

"So... You still have the necklace I gave you?" He suggested, almost like he was deliberately trying to get me into a better mood. Which I couldn't really blame considering the fact that if he didn't bother, I would've started ranting about how much of a horrible dad he was. And then I was going right back to the 'I'm such a spoilt, despicable, cold little brat' phase where I doubted myself and wanted to cry all over again. I just felt _that _hopeless.

I contemplated over either ignoring him or plastering on a fake smile; which I could barely achieve without tears spilling out of my eyes by squinting so hard.

At the end, I managed to nod without unleashing anger or causing a huge scene.

The necklace honestly didn't mean anything to me, it was a family heirloom but I never met any of my dad's side of the family so it really wasn't a priceless possession or something that held an incredibly deep meaning. I just kept it on because it looked cool with an amethyst stone hung in the middle with golden embroidery and little chains entangling it. I wasn't really an extravagant money spender either considering that I wasn't a fifteen year old jewel maniac or a gold digging whore that had a fascination with anything worth more than a hundred pounds. So I generally didn't own anything any more valuable price wise. Kylie told me to keep it on and it wasn't really anything distracting, so I just left it on and in a matter of time, it felt like I was carrying air around my neck, with no sense or touch of the warm pendant batting against my collarbone whenever I jumped around or even casually stumbled down the stairs.

"It's a pretty cool necklace." I finally said.

Everyone was continuing on with their conversations. Wendy was prattling on about some something while Al just grinned at her, but I felt some cloud of anxiousness floating above him. Adrian was tensing up and hunched and cowered up like a timid and frightened little mouse in the small, isolated corner in the bar beside Rose, while she comforted him and gave him soothing pats on the back. Malfoy stood angrily with his arms crossed, his pale features etched with resentment, still purple from rage. While Zabini stood helplessly next to him, not knowing how to ease Malfoy's agitation. Then Louis kept sending me these uncertain looks, questioning whether if I was fine; which I was incredibly grateful for to have someone care so much for me, but I didn't really no how to acknowledge and show my appreciation for someone's kindness or concern towards me.

Seeming that I was so quiet, I was observing everyone in the bar. I even started wondering about what other people where thinking of. What was crossing Wendy's mind? How about Malfoy's? Rose's, maybe? It was getting really random.

Then Jake shook me. "Chloe." He said. And it had been the first time in those few weeks that there was such intensity and sincerity in his eyes, the thoughtful look he sent towards me back at home when he had no one else but me.

"Jake?" I responded almost immediately, a lot faster than I did usually seeming that dad was shooting me an odd look and I was rather lost in thought and it took really long for me to snap out of my deep pondering.

Since today was definitely not the day where I could've started off freshly and friendlily with my dad, he heaved a sigh and said. "Look Chloe, I know that you've been feeling rather... down, today. Would you like to meet up some other time?" He queried. I just nodded faintly.

"Go have some time with Jake." He advised, his baby blues that were so identical to mine gleamed in the sunlight. And then I saw everything, how much he cared about Jake and I, and I instantly regretted how immaturely and bitterly I've treated him, whether intentionally or not. It was my own responsibility to control my emotions, expressing it towards someone else was really childish of me. And I knew that reflecting back on how much of a dreadful person I was and still is wouldn't make me feel any better but would just leave me with more despondence and guilt, I had to face it, face it like the strong and independent person I always wished I was.

"Sure." I said, gripping onto Jake's arm tightly, almost protectively. Jake didn't flinch, he didn't release my hand like I was an embarrassment to his friends, it felt like he understood. And maybe I was just overthinking, I use to think that he was ignoring me and leaving me but I was just being selfish, I was so use to him being mine that I never evaluated upon my actions. How he should've been having fun and should've been enjoying his childhood while he still could have. My misery shouldn't've been expressed or have affected him in any kind of way. Emotions are contagious, if I remained pessimistic and depressed, it wouldn't really cheer or make my brother an optimistic person. So maybe I should change, change because it was beneficial for myself and the people around me.

"Send me an owl, yeah?" Dad waved at us as Jake gave him a hug. Dad slowly walked towards me and carefully spread his arms out. Embracing me as I felt this warmth and sunniness vibrating off of him. I felt my insides grow toasty, the restless churning in my stomach disappearing. "Remember that you could always come find me if you want to." He murmured into my ears softly, giving me another one of his million dollar smiles as I realized why my mum fell for him. Everything about him made people happy. And maybe that was why Keira and I got along so well; though dad was might be the only one who was capable of warming my frosted heart up a little, Keira gave me mild chuckles instead.

I returned the brightest smile I could've managed; which was somewhat of a little twitch on the edge of my lips. "Sure, dad." And that had been the first time I've genuinely thought and labelled him as my dad. I even started wishing that I had called him that earlier. But instead of feeling provoked because I was being such a cold bitch to him earlier, he just smiled at me and gave me a pat on the back.

"So.. about Shannon." Even if a smile and a pat on the back was the perfect farewell we could've had, I realized that the most unselfish thing I could do was to treat my little sister nicely; regardless biological or not.

The warm grin on his face faded; he must've been thinking that I was going to get all fractious over again.

"Where can I find her?" I asked, as dad stared at me dumbfounded for a moment, then he blinked several of times and snapped back into his senses. His grin slowly spreading wide across his face all over again.

"You can always find her at the library." He answered. "Since Hogsmeade weekends are only a privilege for students third year or above, she is probably in potions or defense against the dark arts class as of right now." He looked contented to know that I was finally cooperating and his plans were not going that out of hand. Or maybe he knew all along that I was bound to react insensibly assuming that he seemed very calm and he knew how to respond appropriately to how I was reacting.

"Well, I will go find her later." I promised, as he gave me a reassuring smile.

"I'm proud of you. You know that, don't you?" He confirmed, as I nodded and he briskly dismissed me, noticing that Jake was standing next to us listening to our conversation patiently for what might've been ten minutes.

"Bye." Dad finally said, as Jake and I waved at him and headed down the streets of Hogsmeade, my arm wrapped around Jake's shoulders.

It was the perfect way to say our farewells. And I suppose today could've been worse, it was just an emotional day for me.

Jake and I didn't speak a word as we stumbled upon a book store, I gave him a questioning look as he shrugged in response before we strode in.

As dad's presence slowly dimmed like a distant light glinting in a dark, claustrophobic room, the cheeriness vanished and left me feeling hollow with loneliness and gloom. Maybe god was punishing me, rewarding me with a slight glimpse of happiness where I forgot all the trepidation, leading me into thinking that maybe everything was progressing towards the right direction again when suddenly, it draws away the spirit in me leaving me feeling even emptier.

Jake was yet again, distant. Even when we had our arms around each other, it didn't feel right. I still felt lonely, and my insides felt drained and vacant.

The silence was somewhat peaceful, somewhat tormenting. I felt ambivalent about it.

Jake seemed a bit tensed up.

"Chloe." He suddenly spoke up as I looked at him blankly. "There's something I've got to tell you." He then started shuddering slightly. I gave him a knowing look as he went on. "I... I was..." He hesitated. "Bullied... before. Back home." He sounded less frightened, but more certain now.

I just stared at him, in slight disbelief. How could I've been so ignorant not to notice before, was I that incognizant? Or maybe it wasn't true. But he would never lie to me, and even if he did, it didn't make sense, being bullied wasn't something you can joke about casually. And Jake wasn't one with a great sense of humor.

"Jake.. How.. Why didn't you ever tell me?" When I was finally capable of mustering up a few words, it didn't aid him any sort of way, and I felt dreadful for not being supportive. It was just that I was honestly so shocked that I was left speechless and lost for words.

He was timid, shy and reserved around everyone but I didn't realize that he was going through so much. I was selfish, my brother always took care of me even when he was so much younger and I didn't even stop to ponder about how he was handling himself. My heart was beating against my ribcage, I felt really, really guilty. I was always complaining and grumbling about how he was ignoring me, when truthfully, he had other things to worry about. I was his big sister, _I_ was suppose to take care of him.

"They never really scarred me physically, so I thought that you wouldn't believe me." He said.

"You're my brother, why wouldn't I believe you? I trust you more than anyone else in the world." But as those words left my mouth, I felt unsure. Incredulous and uncertain if I really meant that I trusted him more than anyone else. We use to be, but I wasn't really sure anymore.

"I'm sorry if I've been distant lately but it's because I'm adjusting to everything. I didn't mean to hurt you." He mumbled, sounding genuinely disappointed in himself. How was he so competent at knowing how I felt? He could've been a wonderful psychologist. I mean, I always forgot that he was only eleven. He was sensible, reasonable and he was so strong mentally.

Again Jake was back to being thoughtful and perceptive, maybe he always was and he was just efficiently concealing or faking his reactions. If he was really that dense and unaware or just bad at reading people's minds, he wouldn't've sensed or noticed the negativity hovering upon me.

"No Jake, it's fine. The only reason why I'm being emotional is because _I'm_ adjusting to everything too." I felt blameworthy for whatever depression he was enduring, he even thought that he was responsible for everything when I was the one being problematic. he was eleven and he should've been living his childhood happily like any other eleven year old.

"I'm just really confused. I don't know if I belong here. I fit in and they all accept me for being who I am. But _I _still couldn't accept the fact that I'm half wizard, it's still so new to me and it still feels surreal." He confessed.

"I haven't seen you happier, Jake. You're enjoying your time here so forget everything else." I advised.

"All those years." He seemed to have ignored my reassurance completely, which was normal considering everything he had gone through. "People mocked and laughed at me. But here at Hogwarts, I've never felt like an outcast."

"But isn't that a good thing, Jake? Isn't that what you've always wanted?" I asked as he gave me a quizzical look. "Let go, and be happy." I advocated.

"I...I." He stuttered. "This boy slammed my lasagna in my face one day, but then it flew all the way across the room towards _his_ face instead." He faltered. "And then he punched me in the stomach and called me a freak and that has been what everyone's been calling me ever since." He finished as I felt a tug of shame punching me right in the face. He has been going through so much, he was only eleven and he didn't tell me anything.

I started imagining how horrifying our generation has become, he was eleven for heaven's sake. _Eleven. _Yet people made fun of him, people isolated him and he didn't deserve any of that. What had he ever done to affront or hurt them? Being a wizard wasn't something he chose to be, and I understood how he felt like. It was almost considered discriminating for the kids in his school to bully him for something he didn't choose to be. People were discriminated for being a certain race, gender, etc. But none of them actually had a choice. Nobody asked for it. Including the flaws we were blessed with as disguises, and society didn't give us an opportunity to accept those flaws. In fact, they taunted us for it, they emphasized how much of an outcast we were, and for an eleven year old to have endured such an ugly truth was just intolerable for me. I felt like I could've done something about it, yet I was so busy being selfish that I didn't assist him in any sort of way.

"Jake. You'll be fine as long as you're in Hogwarts. You have nothing to worry about." I replied, feeling a newfound sense of responsibility for Jake. No matter if I enjoyed or liked my experience here at Hogwarts, it was mandatory for me to stay here for Jake to finally have his happiness. My brother has been through something similar but on a completely different level. I was teased for my gap tooth as a kid, but it never really mattered. It was the smallest thing I could've ever made a fuss about. I weeped my eyes out because I was weak. Yet Jake was purely alone, he had no one, but I had Kylie, I had Tina. And I've finally realized how much I wasn't appreciating the things I was fortunate enough to be given. I felt even more guilty because I stole away his happiness, I kept him for myself and didn't give him a chance to develop a close relationship with anyone else. I was even slightly _jealous_, at one point, of the joy he found here at Hogwarts. And I just felt like the worst person in the entire world.

I had no idea how I could've expressed anything I thought through words, though Jake seemed capable at reading my mind, so I didn't have to speak in order for him to know how to respond; which I was infinitely thankful for.

"Jake." I said again. "I will try my best to make sure that you will never have to go through anything like that for the rest of your life. Understood?" I promised, almost as if it was a more of a demand than a favor.

"Thank you Chloe. But I'm fine. I only told you this because I thought that it would help both me and you in the long-run. I don't know, it was more of a gut instinct." He hesitated. "And I also wanted you to know that I will always be your brother, I won't find my happiness and just leave you, you know." He told me. Yet again, he read my thoughts so well it was alarming.

"Ja-" He cut me off. "It's fine. You made me a stronger person, and I'm forever grateful." It felt surreal hearing those words from Jake.

I gave him a look of uncertainty, but he just shook his head and told me that everything was fine, that I didn't do anything wrong. But I knew deep down that it was actually my fault, he just took the blame for it because he didn't want me to mourn over something that I couldn't change.

He was still that timid, protective and caring little brother that I grew up with, he still took care of me like I was his little sister. And I surely wasn't the only one going through everything, maybe I wasn't alone. But it still didn't change the fact that I felt culpable for being so self-centered all the time. Jake didn't owe me anything, in fact, he was my brother, and I did a horrendous job at treating him right. I judged Wendy for being arrogant and self-absorbed, but truthfully,_ I_ was as selfish, and _Jake_ was the altruistic one.

I glanced at him.

"Do you wanna go back? I think you need to rest." He suddenly suggested.

"Rest? Yeah sure, we can stay in the common room, everybody's off to Hogsmeade by now." So we headed out of the bookstore and settled down onto one of those beanbags in the Gryffindor common room. As long as I had the password, flobberworm, Jake was allowed to access the common room even if he was a Ravenclaw, the fat lady didn't seem to care at all.

We sat on the beanbag in silence for about ten minutes, but it didn't feel awkward or forced in any sort of way. It felt peaceful. Jake was humming this melodic tune, tapping on his foot not impatiently but to the tune.

"Jake." I broke the silence. He just stared at me, resuming the tapping and the humming.

"I know this might be weird and I've never told anyone before but-" I faltered. "I don't know." He just stared at me with a reassuring look. I heaved a sigh. "I don't know." I repeated. "You know I've never really liked Wendy right?" I said, he just nodded. "Ever since she's been out with Al, I don't know how to feel about her. I really hate her, I've always had, but for some reason, my feelings towards her are somewhat of hatred, dislike, anger and _pity_. But if I hated someone, why would I pity them?"

"Maybe you don't hate her, you're just forced to think that way."

"But I do!" I reinforced. "Hate her, I mean."

"Do you?"

"I don't know. Of course I do, she's so annoying.. And she... And she shouldn't be with Al." I realized how idiotic I sounded, so I added "She's a bad influence to him.".

"Think about it, did she ever do anything to you."

"Yes! She's trying to impersonate me. I know I might sound like I'm obsessed with myself, and that's not really what I'm trying to say, but it's true! She has even been using my shampoo, bloody why?" I replied, irritated and feeling rather stupid as the words started spilling out of my mouth.

He just smirked at me, the cunning spirit in him that he somehow seemed to have lost over the course of staying at Hogwarts flickering like a fire.

"Maybe she's impersonating you because she wants to remind someone of you." He offered, leaving me more confused than ever. "That way, they would treat her like they would treat you." He continued as I knotted my brows together in bafflement.

"I don't understand."

"You'll understand soon enough." His lips curved into simper and he shot me a triumphant look.


End file.
